Keep your Enemies Closer
by HermioneNCompany
Summary: HermioneSnape. Hermione and Severus find themselves in a few awkward situations as a result of Neville's butterfingers, Draught of Happiness, a "Pleasant Dreams" potion, and a little too much of the sauce.
1. I Told you not to Touch Me

**Keep your**** Enemies Closer**

_(A/N - This is the first Hermione/Snape story I've written so bare with me.__ The couple is quite stubborn and __wont__ always do what I want them to. I just wanted to say thanks for taking the time to read my story and I appreciate all reviews. I will accept constructive criticism but please try not to flame me. If you don't like it just stop reading it. Also, this story will be rated R for possible language and sexual encounters later in the plot. This story is not completely planned out so I will accept any ideas!! Thanks again!)_

_Disclaimer - None of __it's__ mine, but oh how I wish it were._

Chapter 1

**I told you not to touch me**

A bright September day, only a week into the school year, found Hermione, Harry, and Ron seated around an old oak, lounging in the shade. Hermione was hard at work with a potions essay: The Effects of the Wolfsbane Potion and When it is Needed. Harry and Ron were playing exploding snap, much to the dismay of their third. The sun was beginning to set and many students were beginning to wander back inside the castle doors seeking shelter from the darkness.

"I bet you didn't see that coming mate," Ron began, placing down a card, causing the entire deck to explode, which startled Hermione out her silent reverie.

"Will you two quit? It would do both of you some good to get your homework done now, because I certainly won't be doing it for you," Hermione reprimanded them in a huff.

"Aw Hermione, we were only just pl-" Ron began, when the three of them looked up at a shriek to their immediate left.

Booming guffaws could be heard, coming from none other than Crabbe and Goyle. Malfoy was snickering off to the side at the sight before him. Neville was dangling upside down in the air as if an invisible giant had grabbed a hold of one ankle. The contents of his pockets were spilled on the ground below him. Hermione slammed her book shut with a crack and got up from her place in the grass, followed closely by Ron and Harry at her sides.

"Draco Malfoy! Put him down this instant! You are supposed to be head boy and this is how you are acting? You are completely impossible Malfoy, and if you think that this will go unheard, I can assure you that you are quite incorr-" Hermione faltered. Her voice had left her completely; not a sound could be heard. She stomped her foot in indignation but still no sound emerged from her mouth. Malfoy had cast a silencing charm on her, and lazily walked towards her.

"I'm quite what, mudblood? I couldn't quite catch that? You better get back into the castle, it's past your bed time," Malfoy sneered, causing even more raucous laughter to erupt from the two goons. Neville gave a small whimper, as he was still suspended in midair.

"_Finite __incantatum_," Harry whispered to Hermione from behind her.

"Thanks Harry, I'll just be on my way to the Headmaster now, if you'll excuse me. Harry, Ron, please try and take care of _this_," Hermione growled causing Draco to sneer further.

Hermione made her way inside the castle doors and all the way along the corridor that would lead her to the Headmasters office.

"Lemon drops."

The stone gargoyles left aside revealing a spiraling staircase in front of her. She stepped onto the stairs and waited as she was gradually lifted upwards. She stopped momentarily, as she noticed his office door was left slightly ajar and voices could be heard from inside. She crept quietly to the door and peered inside, berating herself mentally for eavesdropping.

Only whispers could be heard from Dumbledore, but that was not what interested her. What left her in shock was seeing the person he was talking to across his desk; Narcissa Malfoy, covered in expensive green silk. Her face was stricken with worry, and she kept glancing around furtively as if she were afraid someone was about sneak up behind her and attack her. Hermione decided it was best to leave and handle this at a later time, however, when she turned to leave, Dumbledore's voice boomed out at her, "What's the rush Ms. Granger? Come in quickly, please."

Hermione stopped in her tracks and blushed deeply as she turned around and entered his office, completely aware that he knew she had been there the whole time. She glanced from Dumbledore to the only other occupant in the room. Her formerly stricken face had morphed into one of loathing as she looked Hermione up and down. The traditional Malfoy sneer was upon her face and Hermione thought she could almost feel the hate radiating off of her. Hermione scowled and turned her back on her to face her professor.

"Sorry to interrupt, Professor, but I just wanted to let you know that there is some very childish behavior going on at this very second, right out on the grounds," she breathed. His eyes twinkled and he nodded, urging her to continue.

"Well, Greggory Goyle and Vincent Crabbe... and...," She faltered, looking at the mother of the other miscreant in question. "Well, anyway, they're hanging Neville upside down and I just thought that you should know." She didn't know why she didn't say anything about Malfoy, other than the fact that his mother was in the room.

"Are those the only two that were involved Ms. Granger?" Dumbledore asked knowingly, looking up at her through his half-moon spectacles.

She paused, "Yes, sir, that's all." He nodded his head and she became aware that she needed to leave, as she was intruding on their conversation. She exited the office, but before closing the door she paused out of curiosity and she heard Dumbledore say one last thing.

"Excuse the interruption, please. We will indeed set up a safe house for you, but you must return to your manor at once, as to not arouse any suspicion."

Hermione appeared at the Fat Lady in a flash, running to tell Harry and Ron exactly what she had just seen.

"Hippogriff."

A loud piercing sound nearly bowled her over when the portrait swung open, allowing her entrance. The entire Gryffindor common room was alive with the mere beginnings of a party. Hermione looked around to see Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnigan carrying two bottles of fire whiskey each, followed closely by Neville (who had apparently gotten down) carrying a mug of butterbeer. The ruffling of newspaper was everywhere, and Hermione had no idea as to what the cause of this party was. All she knew is that she needed to find Ron and Harry as quickly as possible.

After only a few steps into the common room, Harry and Ron appeared beside her yelling and grinning from ear to ear, quite obviously incapacitated.

"...'Ermione, you'll never believe," Ron slurred.

"What's in the Daily Prophet. It's simply, it's just, it's simply," Harry cut in.

"Simply fantastic!" Ron finished, thrusting a copy of the Daily Prophet in her arms, ignoring her pleads for them to listen to her for just a moment. Harry stumbled away, but Ron stayed put, a very curious look in his eye. He waited as Hermione raised the paper to her face and began to read quietly to herself. A very large moving picture of the dark mark, as well as a very familiar face looked up at her from the front page.

_Alaster__ "Mad-eye" Moody became a hero today when Death Eater __Bellatrix__ Lestrange__ was captured by him in the London pub, The Hogs Head. "Mad-eye" told reporters that he had become suspicious of an old man in a far, dark corner of the pub, __who__ refused to come out of the shadows. Without investigating the situation, __Madeye__ cast a binding spell and a disillusionment charm on the "old man" who turned out to be __Lestrange__ in disguise. __Lestrange__ is wanted for many murders as well as countless... (Continued on A6, A7, __B11)_

Hermione stood in shock at all she had read, temporarily forgetting what she had came running here for in the first place. She turned to Ron smiling when she noticed the curious look still on his face.

"..'Ermione, can we talk about this later?" He said stupidly. "I need to er, talk to you for jus' a moment," he said trying to focus on her eyes.

"Sure..." She followed him across the common room and up to the boy's dormitory. Perhaps he wanted to show her something?

"Ron, you'll never believe what I saw today when I left to tell Dumbledore about Malfoy and his mates." He turned to her with the same very strange look she saw downstairs in the common room, but she still couldn't quite place it.

"Do you know what I see right now, 'Ermione?" He slurred thickly, taking a step towards her.

"Are you okay? Maybe you should lay down," she said out of concern.

"...'Ermione, maybe you should lay down with me, eh?" He said closing the distance in between them clumsily. Hermione backed away towards the wall, in between Neville and Ron's bed.

"Ron what are you doing? Get off of me!" She yelled as he put both his arms around her waist and his face against hers in an attempt to kiss her.

"Ron, listen to me, you don't know what you're doing because you are clearly drunk. Now if you'll just sit down, I'll cast a sobering spell on you and you can tell me what the bloody hell this is about," she said trying to put him at an arm's length at the very least.

"No Hermione, I know you want this. I can tell! You've wanted this since third year and I've been too much of a boy to take advantage of it. But now I'm a man. I'm a man and I want you Hermione, and I know you want me so stop fighting it!" He said lunging on her, pushing her on top of his bed and laying heavily on top of her. It was true, she had liked Ron since third year, but she never wanted him like this.

Hermione resisted the urge to scream and fumbled in her robe pocket while he tried to make silly advancements towards her. She muttered a quiet sobering charm and Ron froze momentarily, but after a few moments of thinking perhaps, he started to reach down to unbutton her robes.

"I told you Hermione, I want this, sober or not... I will get it," Ron said, his eyes piercing hers. Hermione screamed and began to cry and tried to push him up, but all the years of quidditch training with his family had done him good and he refused to budge.

"Ron get off of me now or you are truly going to regret you ever laid a hand on me."

"You want this," he said simply.

"_Furnunculus," _Hermione shouted, pointing at Ron the best she could with him on top of her. Large boils began to form first on his arms, and then on his face, which left little to the imagination that they were also appearing all over his body. Ron screamed and started scratching. He began to run for the door that led to the common room, probably to run to Madam Pomphrey.

"_Impedimenta," _Hermione yelled now, still crying but now with a fierce look in her eyes. Ron flew backwards a good seven or eight feet away from the door, landing hard on the floor in front of Hermione. He glared at her and attempted to get up.

"_Immobulus_," Hermione said, watching the boils continue to pop up all over his body, though now Ron was incapable of moving, therefore incapable of scratching at them. She began to walk towards the door, stepping around Ron, but turned around as if she had a better idea.

_Incarcerous_," Hermione said in a shaky voice and ropes flew from nowhere and wrapped themselves tightly around Ron. "In case you somehow get up. Also," she began opening the door as a loud burst of noise from downstairs flowed in, "in case you escape that as well..." She turned around and placed the tip of her wand on the door handle. "_Impervious_," she whispered and door glowed blue for a moment and then faded away. "I told you, you shouldn't touch me Ronald," Hermione said closing the door.

She began to cry again now, harder than she could remember doing in a long time and ran down the stairs in flash. In her haste she tripped on the last stair and fell flat on her face. She got up and looked at her arm as she had cut it on something when she fell and it was now bleeding everywhere. She looked around wildly for Harry, not noticed the stares from people looking at her as if she were a madwoman. She finally spotted him in a corner talking to Seamus.

"Harry! Ron... Ron, he," She began breathing harder than necessary. Harry got up and stumbled over to her away from Seamus. She began to tell him the tale of what just occurred, hoping he would understand how afraid she truly was. However, when she got to the end of her story and looked expectantly at him, he merely shrugged.

"Hermione, he's wanted this for a long time. You shouldn't have cast all those spells on him," Harry stated plainly.

"Harry...he just tried to..." She began looking at him as if she was seeing him for the first time.

"Hermione that was really wrong of you to do that to him, can't you see he loves you?"

"Harry, he just tried..."

"I suggest you go up there and undo all of this and apologize to him. I can't believe you would do that to your best friend!" Harry looked angry now, but he definitely was not a drunk as he was before.

"WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?" Hermione yelled. A few people turned to look at her, but overall it went unnoticed as the volume in the room was already very loud. Harry just looked down; looked away from her tear-filled eyes.

Hermione did the only thing she could think of. She ran. She ran across the room to the portrait hole and jumped through it almost faster than it opened. Shrill yells from the fat lady boomed behind her, but she did not stop. She ran down staircase after staircase until she arrived at the first floor, where the great hall was. She didn't know where she was going, but she knew she had to get away from everything at the moment. She turned a corner and ran into something quite large and quite solid. She rubbed her head as she attempted to stand, and looked up.

"P-p-professor Snape..."

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A/N : The Ron thing really doesn't have TOO Much to do with the story, as a personal... THING, I don't much care for Ron, and I needed a little plot bunny :) Read and Review :)

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	2. Words Unspoken

Chapter 2

**Words Unspoken**

_(A/N __–Thanks go out to katiegrabeel, Artemis-Draco, Mrs. Touchstone, and HS4thYear for the most recent reviews given.__ Thanks also to all the other reviewers from the past, you all make me want to write more!! Thanks so much for reading, and if you have any ideas for the plot or story just let me know!! Now, on with the story!_

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Snape faltered, but did not fall to the ground as Hermione did; after all, he was much larger than she was. He looked down at her and sneered.

"What in Merlin's name would you be doing out at this hour of the night, and as Head Girl? Setting a poor example for your classmates I see, off to a rough start this year Miss Granger. I suggest you pull yourself up off the ground and go back to your Head dormitory, who knows what could be lurking at this time of night," He said shiftily, looking around. He did not offer her a hand, nor did he comment on her disheveled appearance or her tearstained face. He began to walk away, in the direction of the dungeons, then paused and turned around. "Oh yes, I almost forgot, 10 points from Gryffindor for wandering the halls at night without a purpose."

Hermione didn't say a word as he turned around and walked down the hall, disappearing from her view. She merely curled up in a ball and wept in the middle of the hallway, unaware of what she should do, and where she should go. She couldn't go back into the Gryffindor common room, now that Ron was there. She didn't even know whether she should say something to anyone about what happened, after all, Ron had been her friend for 6 years now. On the other hand, he had assaulted her, and they weren't ever to be friends again… but did that mean she should go to Dumbledore, or one of the teachers? She didn't think she could do it. Perhaps she would neither talk to Ron for doing the act or Harry for siding with him, nor would she go to an authority figure about it. It seemed like a reasonable compromise of both.

Yet she still cried. She cried for all the good times she had had with her friends, and all the times that she would not have in the future because of everything that had happened in the past couple of hours. Who did she have now? She didn't have Harry, she didn't have Ron, she wasn't sure if she had Ginny, because how could she talk to her if she knew that Ron would know? There was something about their family now that seemed tainted, though she knew that was not fair to Ginny or any of the other Weasley siblings. She felt lost in her own home. She didn't want to go back to her Head dormitory, in fear that Malfoy would still be awake and he would taunt her even more so than usual for her atrocious looks and blotchy face. Also, he would probably try to hex her into oblivion due to the fact that he thought she had run to Dumbledore about his antics earlier that evening.

It seemed as though hours had gone by, as she lay in the middle of the floor, wrapped up in her own arms in front of the doors to the great hall, when she heard footsteps in the distance, rapidly approaching her. She felt too weak to move, and hoped by some sheer force of luck that the person approaching would be too caught up in their own minds wandering to notice her raggedly breathing form on the ground. She would not be so lucky.

"Miss Granger, may I ask why you have not moved since we last met? What on Earth is wrong with you girl?" Professor Snape did not ask in a way that was caring, nor did it insinuate that he wanted any form of a response. She did not respond, it seemed as though her voice had left her completely, though she did shift into a sitting position, wiping her tears with the back of her hand. She looked up at him expecting him to take off more points or order her to the Headmasters office.

"Have your ears stopped working? Have you lost your ability to speak? The student I know would never shut up…" His voice trailed off and he looked at her unsurely. She was making him uncomfortable, just staring at him like that, and not saying anything. He did the only thing he could think of.

A strange feeling came into her mind, as if a door had opened and the breeze was blowing through her head. Her thoughts felt clear, and she felt the night's events shift to the front of her mind and she felt more tears come to her eyes. By the time the feeling had discontinued, she realized that he had been using legilimency on her, and that he must know what had happened. His face appeared stern.

"Miss Granger, I must implore that you go to your Head dormitory, I will accompany you there due to the fact that you look to be under some sort of trance and I cannot be sure that you won't wander into Moaning Myrtles bathroom by mistake." He looked at her as if he felt extremely uncomfortable.

Hermione merely nodded, afraid of what he was going to do with the information he just saw. She was surprised to find that she was not at all concerned with the fact that Snape knew her newest and deepest secret of all. In fact, she felt comforted by the fact that he was obviously trying to help her, even if he was being rude and Snape-like in the way that he spoke. He was being observably nicer than she had ever seen him be, but she knew that he was at the very least, human. She got up and began to walk with her professor, probably too close than he wanted her to.

* * *

Snape felt uncomfortable. He had just witnessed one of his students being sexually assaulted and she was one of the brightest students he had ever had the displeasure of teaching. Of course she was very intelligent, he knew as much, no one could deny that. However, the way her hand rose into the air every time he asked a question, be it rhetorical or not, aggravated him to no end. Also, she was a Gryffindor and a friend of two of the most annoying boys he had ever seen, next to James Potter and the idiot Black.

He corrected himself in his mind; ex-friends. She would no doubt not be friends with either of them after what he had seen occur. It, of course, was his duty to inform the Headmaster of this occurrence, whether Granger wanted him to or not. The Weasley boy would surely be expelled, though there was nothing he could do about Potter. He would be safe as always, and although Dumbledore might not want to expel the Weasley, he would have no choice once the memory was extracted from Hermione's head and viewed in the pensieve. The man was a barmy old coot, but he could not deny hard evidence.

He shifted slightly away from her, as she kept and annoyingly close walk next to him as if she were afraid the walls were going to come out to get her. Of course he had met victims of this sort of thing before; it was one of Voldemort's fortes, attacking the weak and killing the strong. Nothing would stand in his way of becoming ruler and master of the wizarding world. At this thought his left forearm twitched uncomfortably.

They both finally appeared at the large portrait of a beautiful centaur standing around a small pond in what looked to be the middle of a forest. Snape looked at her expectantly, waiting for her to say the password, but she merely looked up at him, defeated.

"Come on girl, say the password, surely you can speak?" Snape asked impatiently, wondering why the girl insisted upon remaining silent.

"Speak!" he yelled impatiently. Tears welled up in her eyes at his outburst.

* * *

Hermione did not know why she was being so stubborn, it was as if the night had sucked all the energy out of her, and for some reason she had become incapable of speech. She knew she had to speak sooner or later, or else Snape was going to become angry with her. She cringed at the thought of him being angry at her and yelling again. She felt meek and frightened of all things at the moment, but Snape did take the time out of his night to save her… She opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out. She felt foolish.

At that very moment, they both heard footsteps coming around the corner, and they turned around to see just the person neither really wanted to see for one reason or another; Albus Dumbledore. He stopped when he saw them and smiled broadly, his light blue eyes twinkling from behind his half-moon glasses.

"Oh! Severus, Hermione, I was just out for a little bit of a night time stroll. I find it relaxes me to be up and about at two in the morning, plus I'm trying to break in my new slippers," all three of them looked down to see that he was indeed wearing bright blue slippers underneath his pale green nightgown. "Poppy got them for me," He finished smiling happily and wiggling his toes.

"Albus, how… pleasant to see you out at this hour, I was just coming to see you in your office, luckily I caught you," Snape said, hinting at his sarcasm only slightly. Dumbledore seemed to take no notice.

"Yes yes, lucky indeed, to what do I owe the pleasure, Severus?"

Snape gave a sidelong glance at Hermione, wondering if she was going to say anything, and decided that if the way she had been acting previously gave any indication, she would not be uttering a word. He wondered briefly where her bravery had gone; she seemed to be as meek as a mouse.

"Well Albus, maybe we should wait until Miss Granger retreats to her room, she… seems to have forgotten her password."

"Quite alright, it's a tricky one. The password, for future reference Miss Granger, is Boggart Bouillabaisse. A password concoction of my own, if you'll believe it," He chuckled. Hermione nodded her head and stepped into the dormitory as the portrait swung forward and allowed her entrance. The last thing Snape saw was Hermione checking both left and right as if waiting for Draco to leap out at her with a basilisk fang, before the portrait closed behind her, leaving him quite alone with the headmaster.

* * *

The next morning dawned a cloudy one, a premonition of the imminent rain. Hermione hadn't fallen asleep until sometime in the wee hours of the morning due to sheer exhaustion. She immediately remembered the previous day's events, and only reluctantly did she get up and begin to get ready for her first class, Arithmancy. She looked in the mirror when she was finished and did not recognize the person who looked back at her. Sure, her hair was still brown and bushy, and her eyes were still brown and large, but now they held a certain sadness. They were red and puffy from crying and her lips were cracked and dry. She looked wan and sickly, but she didn't care. In fact, she couldn't think of one thing that she did care about, except classes.

Hermione was making her way out of the dormitory when she had her first encounter with Malfoy.

"I heard you come in last night in the middle of the night mudblood. You woke me up clambering up the stairs, where were you?"

She merely looked at him expression unchanging, and left the room, portrait closing behind her. She mightn't have responded under normal circumstances either, but at the moment, she didn't think she had the energy to in the first place. It was none of his business anyway. Her mind wandered to the previous night's events as she walked to the 6th floor. Her fright of the opposite sex had dwindled, as she was clever enough to realize that not all males were at fault for Ron's assault on her. Simply everything had frightened her last night.

However, even though her fright had ebbed away, her speech had refused to return. She knew that she was still capable of it, though now even the thought of words caused her to shrink away, as if she were frightened of them or as if they were a wall over which she could not climb. What use were words anyway, when all they did was hurt people. She didn't need them, who wanted to listen to her anyway? She bit her lip and tasted something metallic in her mouth. Bringing her finger to her mouth, she pulled them away and saw the blood that she had drawn. She felt a strange satisfaction in it and smiled meekly.

* * *

Her next two classes were a blur, and although she did all the course work for Arithmancy and Ancient runes, she had not yet been to a class that required her to speak. Luckily she was going to Potions next, where speaking was frowned upon anyway. Abruptly she came to a stop, causing a first year boy to run straight into her back and stumble away rubbing his head; Hermione showed no notice. She had just realized that both Ron and Harry were in her Potions class due to the fact that they still wanted to pursue careers in the Auror field. Surely she would be able to sit somewhere else because Snape knew what had happened…

She arrived in the classroom right before the bell rang and she surveyed the room quickly. The table where Harry and she sat was empty, and the one next to it that was supposed to hold both Ron and Seamus only held Seamus. When she looked around a little more, she noticed that Harry was sitting in the back with a Hufflepuff that she did not recognize. He appeared not to notice she was there, so she hastily moved to her table and sat down moments before Snape swept into the room, slamming the door behind him.

When the class was over, she had still managed not to raise her hand or speak at all, even though Snape had clearly asked several questions, all of which she knew. The strange thing was that she did not even _want_ to raise her hand to answer any of the questions, though that was usually to be a source of pride for her. The class seemed to have noticed her lack of enthusiasm, for by the end of the class people were casting shifty glances towards her and muttering to their friends. She didn't care, and she merely packed up her belongings and turned to leave the room, only to be stopped by Harry.

"Thanks to you, Ron got expelled. You're a real piece of work Hermione, I hope you know that," He said glaring at her, unable to see her reason of the situation. He turned and left the room, leaving her standing stock still, staring at his retreating back until he turned out of her range of vision.

Coming to her sense, she turned around and walked to Professor Snape's desk, unable to recall a precious time where she had done this willingly of her own free time. He was scribbling on a bit of old parchment, and did not look up at her when he spoke, uncaring of who the student was, or what they had to say.

"Yes, what is it? Hurry up now, I haven't got all day."

Hermione struggled a bit before clearing her throat and peeling her lips apart slowly, as they were still dry and slightly scabbed from biting them earlier that day.

"Thank you."

Snape looked up at her retreating form, and thought wildly for a moment about what he could possibly say to stop her and console her. Before he could think of a single word, she had swept from the room and he had lost his chance.

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PLEASE REVIEW!! AND THANKS GO OUT TO THOSE WHO ALREADY DID!! Tell me what you think! I love to hear from you!


	3. Prancing around under Desks

**Chapter Three**

**Prancing around Under Desks**

**(A/N --a MASSIVE thank you goes out to silentlamb9, latinachikita, aithne-spellacysexii-severusnotwrittenmiss evil ishtar, and instar for reviewing the 2nd chapter!** ** Okay on with the story!**

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Hermione lay atop the crimson duvet of her four poster bed reading a massive book for potions. She had all of her school books laid out around her and a plate of cookies and milk on her bedside table, courtesy of Dobby. Hermione took pride in the fact that she was the top of her class, above any Ravenclaw you would meet, or any other house for that matter. She enjoyed to study and to learn, relishing in the thought of the praise she received daily from her professors. Well, nearly all of her professors; Professor Snape had yet to compliment her on anything she had ever done, no matter how refined her potion making skills were. Her lips turn downwards in an unpleasant grimace at the thought.

It wouldn't normally make her upset to know that Snape disliked her, or thought her unworthy of his Slytherin praise, but she had found that she was focusing more and more on potions after he had helped her. She realized that he hadn't really done anything but tell her to pick herself up off the floor and go to her dormitory, but in some strange way, she felt pleased by the fact that she elicited some form of compassion from him. Maybe compassion was not the word… perhaps it was only the absence of his infamous sneer that made her want to impress him into talking to her even a little. Actually, she still had yet to talk, save a few words here and there to her professors and her two words to professor Snape the day that Ronald had gotten expelled. That had been a week ago.

Hermione had managed to barricade herself in her room during every break she had between classes, and after. She had been studying non-stop for her NEWTS, although it was only the end of September. She had also managed to take the time to wonder down to the kitchens and ask Dobby if he could kindly send some food up to her in her dormitory, for she was feeling ill and could not attend the public meals in the great hall. Nodding fervently, he had agreed, stuffing a pumpkin pasty in her hand as she turned to leave.

She didn't attend meals, and she didn't even go to the library anymore, asking both Dobby and Winky to help her gather the books she needed which they were more than happy to do. She felt bad asking them to do so many things, and on more than one occasion tried to pay them for their kind services, only to be met with angry stares and cries of alarm and protest.

Hermione needed something to occupy her time with, as she didn't want to be seen in the public eye more often than she could avoid. Honestly, it made her extremely uncomfortable to be out when she could possibly run into Harry, and it seemed as though he was everywhere. It made her extremely grateful that their interest in certain subjects had shifted from each other so that now the only class she had with him was Potions, and he completely ignored her there anyway. However, she had resolved to hide in the comfort of her own room for when she tried to walk around in public, she had only received glares and some pitying looks from her fellow peers. Somehow the story had managed to make its way across all of Hogwarts in a blink of an eye and she neither wanted to deal with people like Harry who took the side of Ron, or people who took her own side, pitying her and attempting to comfort her. Of course that was not the only reason she avoided being out and about.

Her lips had begun to scab over even more, due to the more and more frequent biting of them. It was quickly becoming her nervous habit and no matter how hard she focused on it (which granted, wasn't very much) she could not stop. Plus, she had taken to not getting ready in the mornings, and merely rolled out of bed, put on her school uniform, grabbed her books, and set off to class without a second look at her appearance. She could see Lavender and Parvati staring at her atrocious hair and gaunt features. However, when she looked them in the eye after a charms class perpetually full of their ogling, she saw a faint glint in Lavender's eyes that reminded her exactly of a time in 5th year when she had tried to give Hermione a makeover. She would have to be sure that she avoided them as much as possible between classes.

Hermione had decided that since she didn't particularly want to talk to any of her peers, she would stay after in all of her classes and ask her teachers if there was any way she could assist them or have any sort of private lessons with them maybe once a week if they could spare the time. Most of them turned her down, unable to find the time in their day to take out for her, though they were as polite as possible about rejecting her. Professor Mcgonagall had heard what had happened by means of Albus and took pity on the poor girl and allowed her to help her grade some of her first year's assignments. By the end of the stack, Hermione understood how some of her teachers were so short-tempered by the end of their day.

* * *

Her other teachers had all rejected her, apologizing profusely that they could not be of any service to her, but maybe next semester they could find something for her to do. The only person left to ask was Snape, and this was the one she was most worried about. After all, it had been he who she had so been hoping to impress, and perhaps this was her chance to show her appreciation for what he had done for her. She felt exceedingly nervous the farther she made it in the direction of the dungeons to ask Snape. When she knocked on the door to his dungeon classroom, she nearly fainted with worry.

However, she waited for a minute, and there was no response. She knocked again, wondering if he wasn't lurking inside for once. When she decided that he was not there, she opened the door to find that indeed, the classroom was empty. She knew that he had remedial potions in the afternoon and that even though he was not there at the moment, he would be there soon enough. She decided that she would write him a short letter describing what she wanted, and leave it on his desk. She didn't bring any parchment or a quill so she decided that he she would use his that he always kept in a neat stack in the corner of his desk.

She knew that he would not appreciate her being inside his classroom while he was away, so she chose to make quick work of the letter so that she would be long gone before he chose to return. She located the parchment and opened the top drawer to find a quill. She located one that looked as though it had been dipped in pure gold and she marveled at it for a moment before jotting down her letter and placing it in the center of his desk. She opened his top drawer to return his quill to its proper place when she, most unfortunatly, dropped it.

_'How clumsy of me,'_ she muttered in her head, bending down to retrieve it from underneath Snape's desk. She had no sooner gotten on her knees and climbed halfway under his desk and placed her hand upon it, that the dungeon door burst open, revealing a very pleased-looking Snape. Panicking, Hermione hoped that he would merely go into his store room or private chambers so that she could extract herself from under his desk and escape before he was any the wiser to her whereabouts. She couldn't simply stand up and prance by him, as it would look as though she were hiding under his desk, which of course was exactly what she was doing. She pressed herself against the back of the underside of his desk and waited for the telltale signs that he had exited the main room.

Her luck did not hold, as he made his way directly to the mahogany desk under which she was concealed. Fortuitously, he did not sit in his chair, but merely hovered above his desk. For a wild moment, Hermione waited for him to suddenly bend down and startle her into oblivion, but she remembered that she had placed the letter upon his desk and he was most likely just reading it. She resisted the urge to breathe a sigh of relief and waited for him to walk away, sure that he could hear the pounding of her heart from where he stood.

Her bad fortune continued as she heard him grumble and pull out his desk chair to sit down. She pressed herself more fully against the back of his desk and hoped that he would not scoot in all the way and feel her raggedly breathing form with his knees.

"Granger, what to do with her… No student has ever requested any kind of afterhour's activity with me since… well ever. Know-it-all Granger and her perfect marks…" He continued to grumble as he scooted in his chair to make himself a little more comfortable. Fortunately for Hermione, he had a magnificently large desk which was made of only the finest wood. The size of it is what made Hermione pleased at the moment, or at least as pleased as she could possibly be while crawling around underneath Snape's desk without his knowledge. She refused to give into the wild giggle that was traveling up her throat, threatening to spill out of her mouth at the hilarity of the situation. At least all she had to do now was wait for him to get out of his blasted chair.

Snape did not get out of his chair. In fact, he did not move from that very spot while his remedial potions class filed its way into the classroom looked extremely unpleased about being there. Amid the seven or eight students that were there, Neville was amongst them. Hermione could tell it was Neville by the slight whimper elicited from him when he plopped down at the table directly in front of Snape's desk. Hermione had a feeling Snape had more than a little to do with the seating arrangements. She nearly jumped out of her skin when his booming voice echoed through the room.

"You and your partner will work together on creating the potion listed on the board," he drawled. She heard the familiar swoosh of his arm, as she imagined the potions ingredients and directions appear magically on the blackboard at the front of the classroom. "I have prepared a sample of this potion which is located on the far desk, which if you cannot tell what it is by its characteristically mother-of-pearl sheen and spiraling steam, you should be able to recognize it by its very distinct scent to each and every one of you. Does anyone know what this is?" He asked, not expecting an answer. His intuition held true, as not a single hand rose into the air. "This is the potion known as Amortentia; the strongest love potion in the world, if you will. Being in remedial potions, you should at least know that anyone at a 5th year level should be able to brew this potion successfully. When you are finished, make sure to take a sample vial with your names on it and bring it up to my desk so that we may test it," he smiled menacingly. "Make sure to concoct it to perfection. You may begin."

Hermione stifled another giggle at his obvious dislike for his remedial potions class, but remained quiet to avoid him noticing her. However, when he scooted in even further, she found that although she was not touching his body, she could swear that if she was not careful, he would be able to feel her hot breath on his leg. She attempted to cover up her mouth to avoid said interaction, when she accidentally brushed his knee with her hand. She stiffened, sure that he had felt her touch him. However, when he made no move to show that he had noticed, she visibly relaxed, thankful of her luck.

Yet, just when she could hear the potion-makers get to work, she saw a hand come down from its resting place on the desk above, and with it came a small slip of parchment. It stopped right in front of her face, and she was not sure what the purpose of it was. Perhaps he was merely going to put it into one of his lower drawers for safe keeping, or maybe he was just holding it, preparing to get out of his desk and take it somewhere else. However, when it dropped swiftly to the ground, and he appeared not to notice, she decided to see what it was about.

She carefully reached out, assuring that he would not see her, and grabbed the small piece of folded up parchment, bringing it close to her face so that she could read it in the semi-darkness. She read it slowly twice, before she realized what it said.

_"Miss Granger, could I implore as to why you are sneaking around underneath my desk?"_

* * *

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	4. Neville's Mistake

**Chapter Four**

**Neville's Mistake**

**(A/N --****I would like to announce that I finally have a beta so I want to thank her for doing a wonderful job!! ****Also, ****a MASSIVE thank you goes out to ****sexii-severus, gravity01, NakedQuidditchFan, Mrs. Touchstone, MaskOfComedy, eruthiadwengreenleaf, aithne-spellacy, miss evil Ishtar, sampdoria, tamarackpines (My beta!), and Amber-Jade James ****for reviewing the 3rd chapter!** **Anyone that has any questions about this story, please let me know, and I will be sure to answer them in the next installment. Anyone who has any ideas for future plot twists also let me know! ****Here we go!**

After Hermione had reread the parchment several times, she dropped it and somehow managed to hit her head on the desk in her hurried attempt at scooting backwards as far as she could. She heard the tale tell signs of ceased movement in the classroom as all the students stopped what they were doing to look for the loud noise in question, seemingly coming from Snape.

"Enough wasting time, get back to work! You will need all the time you can get to complete this potion, and I will make sure that the worst looking potion will be tested on the potion-maker themselves," he barked out, quickly losing any sign of sympathy from his face. When he was sure that every one of the students was immersed in his or her work, he slowly shifted his chair backwards and leaned himself forward, as if looking for something that he had dropped. He certainly found _something._

In his quietest voice, he looked her straight in the eye and hissed, "Miss Granger? I thought I had asked a fairly straight forward question. Do you mean to keep me waiting? Why are you underneath my desk?!"

Hermione opened her mouth, and just as before, nothing managed to come out, though she wanted desperately to talk to the man in question. She sputtered a bit before he cut her off. He looked up, his head going out of her line of vision, before he came back with his wand. Fearing for her life she attempted to scramble in the far corner of his desk, in the shadows, in a poor attempt at hiding from his wand. He reached out his arm, unable to grab her from where he sat, and growled quietly at her annoying nature. Here she was hiding from him, under his own desk; the nerve!

Making sure that his students were kept at bay, he pushed his chair completely back and got on his hands and knees in the attempt at crawling in after her. This was a completely ridiculous thing to do, he admitted to himself, but desperate times called for desperate measures, and he counted crazy teenage girls hiding under his desk as a time for such. When he had completely submerged himself from under his own desk, and sufficiently blocked her escape route, he lifted his wand and watched her cringe.

"Muffliato," he whispered, making sure no one would overhear them. He ignored the fact that it might look strange had any one of the students noticed him crawling under his own desk, or if they didn't notice, they would think he merely disappeared into thin air. He shook his head and focused on the task at hand. "Lumos," he muttered, causing a small ball of light to appear at the end of his wand.

"S-sir, please let me explain," Hermione finally stuttered out. "I was merely here, trying to write you a letter so that you would know that I wanted to be of some assistance to you…" she squeaked.

"Well you silly girl, I do not believe you could be of any assistance to me while under my desk, do you?" he snarled at her. Her cheeks tinged pink at the implications of such a statement. She looked down, embarrassed that she had even thought such a dirty thing. He watched the emotions play out over her face as he realized what he had said. "I, err, I mean to say that…" he was very skilled at producing innuendos when he didn't mean for them to come out at all. Now _his_ cheeks tinged pink, though he didn't have to look down, since his head was already forced forwards by the short stature of the desk he was crammed under. He cleared his throat and tried to speak again.

"Miss Granger, I cannot have you climbing out from under here when there are students about, I'm sure you can understand that. So, while the prospect of staying under my own desk all class period is enticing, I must return to my students. You, on the other hand, must stay where you are until all others have left the room, and then we will discuss why you were under my bloody desk in the first place."

With this, he cast 'Nox' on his wand, and 'Finite Incantatum' for his Muffliato spell, and crawled ungracefully out from under his desk. He then used his wand to cast a loud 'bang' in the farthest corner of the room near the door as a distraction, so that he could safely return to his seat without anyone being the wiser. Just as he had predicted, the students looked around for the source of the noise, and when they turned back around to see that their professor had resumed his seat without their notice, they quickly stopped their muttering and returned to their work, unwilling to get in trouble for talking.

Snape took this time to scoot in as far as he could, effectively pressing the student under his desk against the far wall with his knees. He heard her moving about, trying to find a more comfortable position as he remained immobile, and unwilling to cater to her needs of comfort. After all, it was her fault that she had imprisoned herself underneath the retched potion masters desk, and now she had to stick with it. After all, what would people think if they saw her crawling out from under his desk…?

Just then he pictured _exactly_ what people would think, and the mere thought of it made him shift uneasily in his seat, willing the images to go away.

They did not go away.

In fact, the images seemed to get worse the more he tried to chase them away. He knew exactly what they would say; that he was a lecherous old man who just couldn't keep his dirty paws off his very well-rounded, ambitious, intelligent… He paused, shaking his head again when he felt Hermione accidentally brush against his inner leg. A shiver went down his leg as he tried, futilely, to regain some composure. Keeping a student under his desk was probably the worst idea he had ever had, and he had had many. This was possibly up there with becoming a death eater.

He spaced out again, pondering… He would be not only called a lecher, but he would be expelled for the supposed affair he was having with a student, and then of course she would be expelled, and then she would probably come looking for him and slaughter him for ruining her schooling career, and then she would go to Azkaban, and then…

He looked around shiftily; he needed to quell these thoughts, but more importantly, he needed to get up from this retched chair as the longer he stayed in it, the worse things became. He would start to daze off, thinking about all the things that would happen if Hermione would be discovered, hiding out underneath his desk, then he would absentmindedly lean forward in his chair, effectively squishing his captive into the far wall of his desk. This in turn would make her uncomfortable and more often than not she would try to move to get in a more comfortable position and would unintentionally touch his leg or other part of his body, causing him to jump and making him… well it was making him uncomfortable.

Standing up abruptly, he managed to startle a gasp out of Hermione, who hadn't expected his hasty movement. When he surveyed the class, he noticed that Neville was alternating between looking at him strangely and looking at his desk. He decided it was best that he ended his curious gaze before it led to trouble.

"Longbottom! Class is over, bring up your completed potion so that we may test it!" Snape improvised loudly.

"B-but professor, class isn't over for another ten minutes! My potion isn't finished yet," Neville whimpered, though he knew it was a lost cause. After a swift and deadly glare from Snape, he lowered his head in defeat and siphoned some of his incomplete potion out of his cauldron, and put it in a small glass vial. He raised himself as slowly out of his chair as he dared, and carried his newly labeled and bottled potion up to Professor Snape's desk.

Snape looked pleased with himself in coming up with such a good distraction for himself. Any longer in that chair and he might have… well he might have gone crazy. He waited for Neville to make his way up towards his desk, not bothering to suppress the smirk that was quickly spreading over his face. Just when he thought his smirk could get no bigger, Neville tripped. He resisted the urge to laugh out loud when his potion dropped to the floor and Neville's face contorted into one of pure mortification.

"Sorry P-professor Snape, I didn't mean to! I'll go get another flask, s-sorry!" Neville started to turn around to run and get another flask of his potion, when Snape's booming voice stopped him mid-step.

"Longbottom, clean up this mess first!"

"Oh! Okay… Ev-ev-evanesco!" He managed to sputter out, pointing his wand at the potion that had spilled to the floor right in front of Snape's desk.

Unfortunately, the smirk was ripped clear off Snape's face when he saw that Neville had managed to cause a fair amount of damage in his attempt at rectifying the situation at hand. Not only had he not cleaned up his mess of a potion, but he had in fact managed to duplicate it in mass quantities and spread it to even the farthest reaches of the room. Each student was covered with the sticky substance that did, in fact, produce a mother of pearl sheen and had the characteristically spiraling steam that one associated with Amortentia.

It was as if all the things that could possibly go wrong_, were_ going wrong right here in his remedial potions class. Neville's butterfingers had caused a wide variety of ridiculous things to occur in his class, but this one topped it by far. He momentarily forgot about Hermione when he saw every single one of his students stop in mid motion as if they had all simultaneously ran into a brick wall. Then, out of nowhere, they all just went at each other as if this were their last day on Earth and that they needed to express all the love they had right here, right now. Professions of love were being called out left and right, and some students had even managed to rip off their school cloaks and were hastily going for more when Snape finally came to his senses.

"Stop, stop it all of you! You're all a bunch of animals!" Snape roared out, causing all the students to cease their variety of activities and look at him. Several were inching towards one another, hoping that they could just touch their 'one true love' one last time before Snape killed them.

"All of you, get up, put on some clothes for Merlin's sake, and get in a single file line so I can sort out this mess," Snape called out.

One by one, the students left the strangest remedial potions class they had ever attended, looking down, and not speaking to anyone due to the sheer embarrassment of it all. The last to leave was Neville, who had been warned to never do anything like that again and had been issued detention for a week and a failure for the day. Neville did not point out that remedial potions did not receive a grade at all, and hurried to leave the dungeons as fast as humanly possible.

Snape sighed as he reached his classroom door, closed it, and looked around his classroom at the mass disarray of his supplies. Cauldrons were spilled, desks and chairs were overturned, parchment lay everywhere, and the sticky substance remained all over, dripping from his normally pristine walls. Just when he thought it could get no worse, he realized with a strange lurch in his stomach, that Granger was still lurking underneath his desk.

Fuming at the mess that his room was, and that she still had the nerve to be hiding, he marched over to his desk and ripped out his chair from underneath his desk and peered under only to find it eerily empty, save for a small puddle of an unidentifiable substance. He ignored the puddle and began to ponder… Perhaps she had slipped out without his notice and now she was off doing whatever it is she did when she had free time… However, just as he was thinking these things, he noticed that the door to his private chambers lay completely open, for anyone to see! The nerve of that girl, gallivanting around in his private chambers, this would mean expulsion if he could help it!

Snape sauntered slowly over to his door, prodding it the rest of the way open and peering inside. He could see no movement anywhere he looked, but that did not mean the little perpetrator had not traveled even deeper into his privacy. The little scoundrel… oh he would find her, of that she could be sure.

However, not only was she not in his living area, but she was not in his bathroom, or potions storeroom. The only place that left was his bedchambers, and this was a place he found hard to believe, that anyone but himself would dare enter. He decided that, though the chances were slim that she would dare enter this room, it was best to check just in case, lest her Gryffindor bravery had gotten the best of her. He opened the door to his bedchambers slowly, as if waiting for her to jump out at him and attack him. He noticed with a faint irony that this is exactly how she looked when entering her own dormitory a week before.

He stepped fully into the room and in front of his open door and peered around furtively. Just when he had decided that she was indeed, not in here, he saw movement from the other side of his room, lazily coming towards him. The shadow could be no one but Hermione, as he noticed the large outline of her somewhat bushy hair. The room was dark enough to require that he light his wand, but just as he reached into his robe pocket, he felt himself roughly pressed into his own door, successfully closing it and casting the room into complete and total darkness.

"Professor…" he heard her fluttery voice breathe out before she saw fit to begin kissing his neck quite aggressively, rendering him momentarily incapable of anything but submission.


	5. Love Struck

**Chapter Five**

**Love Struck**

**(A/N --****a MASSIVE thank you goes out to ****Amber-Jade James, Desdemona321, latinachikita, miss evil Ishtar, sexii-severus, acephalous, notwritten, SlytherinSarah, Heidi191976, eruthiadwengreenleaf, Ero Ro aLiE, Mrs. Touchstone, NakedQuidditchFan, and Tamarack Pines for reviewing the 4th**** chapter!** Also, a very special thanks to my new beta! She's wonderful! **Now onward!**

Severus Snape was not one to be forced into submission by just anyone. Sure, he had been a loyal, and then a not so loyal, follower of Voldemort, but that was different. This was different. His mind was completely swept blank as soon as the young witch pressed her full lips against his and pushed her well-developed body against his own, eliciting a guttural sound that he did not know he was capable of making. It took him more than a few moments to think straight about his current situation.

He sluggishly came to his senses and roughly pushed his aggressor off of him, causing a whine slip through her bruised lips.

"Miss Granger, I want you to get out of my room, and I want you to get out now," Snape said, pointing at the door. "I want you to go straight to your dormitory, and I want you to lock yourself in your room and stay there for the rest of the night until this potion wears off. I am all out of antidote due to Longbottom's shenanigans, or I would do it myself. Now out with you!"

Hermione looked at him sadly for a moment and then smiled suddenly, making her Professor look very nervous indeed. "Professor Snape, Severus, don't worry… I know what this is about," she grinned coyly. "I understand."

"You do?" Snape said, wondering what in Merlin's name she was talking about. However, it was probably best that she leave before his mind began to wander to the nights events…

She took a step towards him, "Oh yes, Professor, I won't tell anyone about this, I promise! This will just be between you," She took a step closer, "and me." She closed the gap between them, swiftly bringing her hands under his robe to undo the many buttons of his frock.

He snapped out of it more quickly this time and held her shoulders at an arm's length from himself before speaking.

"Miss Granger, you have been exposed to some vile and completely awry version of Amortentia. I suggest you come with me into a more professional setting and I will scrounge around for a supplement remedy," Snape said forcefully, regaining his composure. He then turned around swiftly, taking care that the Granger girl didn't get too friendly with his backside.

After he had managed to drag her out of his private chambers and locked himself in his own storeroom, he began to collect the necessary ingredients he would need to make her a makeshift remedy. He opened the door slowly to make sure she was not going to pounce on him out of nowhere again. He saw that she was safely out of reach, sitting at his desk, rifling through all of his desk drawers, not seeing the need to _ask…_

He grumbled to himself and set his ingredients down on the nearest table and carefully lit a flame beneath his personal cauldron, and waiting for it to come to a boil.

He made sure he was safely behind the table in case Hermione were to find her way in his direction; at least he would have something to block her with. However, whilst she continued to throw him not-so-subtle, lingering glances, she merely continued to search thorough his desk, examining each item she came across, acting as if each were the most beautiful treasure she had ever held. He decided that enough was enough… after all, as soon as she received the remedy, she would not merely forget everything that she had done this night. In fact, it was likely that she, as well as he, would not be able to stop thinking about it at all.

"Miss Granger, I implore you to cease that activity at once. You may sit quietly or – "

"You know, Professor, you're so uptight. I could give you a massage if you like," she said, smirking sensually. "I could give you something else if you like…"

"That will be neither necessary nor wanted. Just sit down and shut up." He turned back to his cauldron and continued to work as quickly as he humanly could, in the vain attempt to get her the hell out of his personal area.

"It's just that you're so beautiful! I just am so thankful that you helped me out with all my… everything and I like your hair! And your fingers are so long and," She paused her tirade only to stand up; "I just want you to love me like I love you! Severus!" She whined the last word, causing a strange flutter in his stomach which he easily passed off as disgust.

He did not respond, but merely grunted and turned back to his cauldron, adding the last couple ingredients and stirring it carefully counter clockwise seventeen times. He took his mind off of Granger for the time being; deciding now was a better time to appreciate the tedious art of potion making. He couldn't truly put a finger on what held him so enthralled with potion making, but it was probably one of the only reasons that his miserable existence had not driven him completely out of his mind. He loved the way his hair fell in a curtain around his face when he leaned over potion after potion, and he loved the way that he could make almost anything he wanted. It was the one time that he could be in control.

He stopped thinking abruptly when he realized that Hermione had moved from her previous position and was actually standing directly across from himself, staring raptly at him.

"Oh for Merlin's sake granger, get a hold of yourself!"

"Professor, can I just have one more little kiss? Would that really be so hard? You seemed like you were enjoying it before," She trailed off, looking up at him through her thick eyelashes.

Snape flushed pink, but avoided looking at her by scooping up some of the completed potion and siphoning it into a small bottle for her to drink more easily and also so she wouldn't get any closer to him.

Although Hermione was under the influence of Amortentia (or at least some form of it), her curiosity was not quelled, nor was her reasonable fear of being poisoned since the dark lord had came into power. She gave Snape a questioning gaze. "What exactly is that?"

"I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of a softly simmering potion or the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, Miss Granger, so I expect that I'll tell you after you drink it." He said smartly, thrusting the potion at her.

"I'm not drinking it then, I have a better idea anyway…" She gave him a smoldering gaze.

"Just drink it!"

"No! Just love me!" She yelled, running around one side of the table with her arms outstretched.

Snape, feeling more foolish than he had in his entire life, darted around the other side of the table in an attempt to avoid her at all costs. Just when he though his predicament could get no worse, he heard a very loud knocking on his dungeon door. He was at a loss for what to do, which in retrospect seemed to have happened quite a bit throughout the evening…

"Open up Severus, this is very important!" He heard the voice of Minerva McGonagall sound from the other side of the wall.

He couldn't very well just let her in, what with a love-struck student running around after him in his dark dungeon classroom. However, it didn't sound as if she would be ignored easily. He decided to answer the door while simultaneously getting Granger off his back.

"Listen, _Hermione,_ my love, if you'll just wait right there for one minute, I will get rid of this nuisance at my door and we will commence in… doing whatever you like. Is that a deal?" Snape lied smoothly, feeling nauseated at the words that were coming out of his mouth. She did not answer, but merely sat down on the table, crossed her legs, and blew him a kiss. He resisted the urge to throw something at her.

He made his way quickly to his door and opened it marginally, allowing McGonagall to see only a small slice of his face throw the crack.

"What do you want this late at night, Professor? I am a very busy man…" Snape said slickly.

"Do not kid yourself, Severus, I know what you're doing down here," She said, giving him a hard gaze. He faltered slightly.

"Excuse me?"

"You sit down here and give all your students D's and T's on their papers, whether they deserve them or not and then you go into your study and read until midnight, where you fall asleep in your armchair. You have nothing to do, so you are going to listen to me on the Headmaster's orders," McGonagall was one of the few people who did not put up with Severus Snape's foul temperament.

"Albus wants every teacher in this school to start up an advanced class for only their most highly developed and sophisticated students. These advanced classes can hold as many students as will wish to join, however, only the best should be able to succeed and remain in the class. Of course, I told Albus that most of your students are already failing your regular classes, and that there was no need for you to set up any other kind of optional class, due to the fact that nobody would join in the first place. However, he said that it was only fair to offer the students who wish to try more advanced magic, then they should be able to do as such," She looked at him in disdain. "And before you ask, yes, you must post this on your door and allow student the opportunity to at least _try_."

Snape's face was turned downward in a scowl. This night could get no worse, it was official. Not only did he hate teaching little brats their ABC's of potion making, he hated it more when Dumbledore interfered with his personal time, something of which seemed to be a rather annoying habit of his. He thought of all the ways he could get out of creating such a completely unnecessary class… surely he could post it outside his door in a completely unknown language and in very small script so that not a single student would realize what it was really saying. He let out a bark-like laugh, startling McGonagall enough to make her jump.

"My apologies Minerva, if that is all…?" Snape said, already backing away from the door to close it in her face. However, before McGonagall had time to speak, and even before Snape had the chance to shut the door, a very high pitched squeal echoed through the room.

"Professor, it's about time we got down to business don't you think?" Hermione said, making her way toward the door that McGonagall had put her foot in the way of closing.

"Severus, why is Miss Granger in your classroom this late at night? Better yet, why is Miss Granger in your classroom this late at night and clinging to you in a very loving way?" McGonagall implored Snape, in a very suspicious and appalled way.

"Minerva, it isn't what it looks like," He said, peeling Hermione's curvaceous form off of himself, and straightening his robes. "She's been exposed to Amortentia, due to a certain mishap in my remedial potions class today. I was just administering the antidote to her, when you came along." Snape said, looking down at Hermione, who had began kissing his shoes.

"Severus, don't you think this looks a little suspicious? Perhaps you should take her to Madam Pomphrey."

"Unfortunately, the medi-witch does not have a supply of the remedy in her stores. The next place I would have to take her is to St. Mungo's which seems completely unnecessary since I have the antidote right here, in this very room. So, once again, if you will pardon me, I have to get this over excited student out of my room. Good day, Minerva." Snape then kicked McGonagall's foot from out of his way, and closed the door, locking it in its place.

Minerva suddenly heard the excited squeal of the amorous hunter and the outraged yell of the put upon prey.

Outside his door, a certain witch was wondering what had come over Severus Snape.


	6. Friends and Foes

**Chapter ****Six**

**Friends and Foes**

**(A/N ---****a MASSIVE thank you goes out to ****Nessa Inwe, TamarackPines (my lovely beta), Notwritten, Heidi191976, Amber-Jade James, SlytherinSarah, latinachikita!Ero RoX aLiE!, reijin, and Carebearorsnoopy ****for reviewing the ****5****th**** chapter!** _Also__ very special thanks to my new beta! She's wonderful! _**Also, I apologize for the wait for chapter 5, this is why I'm trying to post this one shortly after, because I kept you all waiting!! So sorry! Now, Onward!  
**

* * *

Hermione awoke the next day, as groggy as she could remember being in a very long while. She heard the alarm on her wand going off, on the dresser all the way across the room. She sat up, rubbed her eyes, and tried not to pay any attention to the gentle throbbing of her head.

_'At least I'm in my own room…'_ she thought trying to piece together the previous night's events. The pestering sound of her alarm and the rhythmic pulsing of her temples were enough to cause her to have a completely empty, albeit annoyed, mind. A true rarity; Hermione with an empty mind.

She got up and crossed the room on unsteady legs and shutoff her pesky alarm. Looking at her watch, she found that she had already missed every single one of her classes and that it was already past four in the afternoon.

"What in Merlin's name…?" Hermione muttered to herself. She had never even slept past eleven AM, let alone four PM! She shook her head to clear her thoughts, but only managed to make her head pound more. Deciding that the best course of action would be for her to take a headache relief potion that Madam Pomphrey had so graciously granted her on the mere second day of school. She had said that Hermione was not the first Head Girl or Boy to ask for her entire stock of relief potions of various sorts.

Hermione found, to her extreme relief, that Malfoy was not anywhere to be seen and so he was not clogging up the bathroom like he usually did. She found her way to the medicinal Cabinet above one of the mirrors in the bathroom and gulped it all down greedily. She felt relief flood her body instantly. However, the relief fled as quickly as it came, only to be replaced by something much worse.

Now, under almost all circumstances, causing a head pain to disappear would be wonderful. However, now that her headache had disappeared, it gave her mind free reign over the thoughts that she had not yet allowed entry.

Snape. Severus Snape. _Professor_ Severus Snape. And she had kissed him.

"Oh Merlin, am I in trouble now."

* * *

Ceasing her thoughts the best she could, she walked outside to sit on the luxurious couch facing the already-lit fire in the common room. She tried her hardest to ignore the thoughts that were running through her mind, but gave up, realizing that there was no escaping them. She let her mind wander about what happened the night before.

_After Snape shut the door on Professor McGonagall, he turned around only to find Hermione staring at him, a mere two feet away; enough to make him feel extremely uncomfortable. __He needed to take action. __Forcing Hermione down in the first chair he saw, he proceeded to extract the small vial of antidote out of his robe pocket, careful to hide it from her view. _

_Hermione backed up and sat in the small classroom chair, a clearly eager look in her eye. _'What could Snape be planning to do with me?'_ she thought, smiling, as she watched __him fiddling around with something in his robe pocket. _

_"Now, Miss Granger, I'm going to have to ask you to be very still, can you do that?" Snape asked, gritting his teeth and grabbing her wrists to keep her from inching away._

_"Anything you want, Severus," She whispered, closing her eyes, waiting for him to take full advantage of the situation and herself._

_Snape ignored her comment and proceeded to inch closer to her. He took much care to make sure that his mind did not wander away from him while he was positioning his legs around hers, pinning them together in place. He was, after all, only making quite sure that she would not make some rash movements and knock the potion vial out of his hands in her attempt to escape. He knew she would not take it if he told her what it was, and he also knew that she would not take it if she did _not _know what it was. His only option was to play into her little game and sneak it into her mouth when she least expected it. _

_Sneaking things into willing women's mouths was not, per say, his area of expertise, so he wanted to make sure that he would get it right the first time. _

_"Open your mouth for me, Miss Granger," Snape withheld the snort that was threatening to come out at the implications of the statement. He would most definitely get fired from his teaching position if he were ever caught in the position he was in right now with a seventh year student. He watched as her lips parted, and her mouth opened, the corners of which were turned up in a slight smile. Her eyes were still closed._

_He felt his inner thighs twitch, but ignored it, shifting his weight to the other leg. Taking advantage of her momentary lapse in judgment, he uncorked the vial__ and poured the entire contents into the back of her throat. Her eyes f__lew open and she gagged on the somewhat bitter __substance, alarmed. Snape backed up, smirking his signature smirk, and watched her struggle around. Almost instantaneously she ceased her movement, and her body went slack. _

_He walked closer to her and lifted her into a cradle position and looked at her half-closed eyes. _

_"Miss Granger, since you wanted to know so badly what it was that you would be drinking, I had to give you an alternative to the real antidote __of Amortentia. Instead, I brewed up a mild tranquilizer. Happy dreams!" And right before she drifted off, she heard the first chuckle she had ever heard come out of Severus Snape's mouth.  
_

* * *

Hermione couldn't believe what she had done. She had hidden under Snape's desk, gotten heavily exposed to a love potion, made out with her Professor, seduced him, gotten caught acting a fool by McGonagall, gotten tranquilized by him, passed out, and missed all her classes. The day could hardly get any worse. She could never face him again; ever. She would merely go to the Headmasters office, and request that she be taken out of his NEWT class, and she would take another year of advanced Ancient Runes instead. After all, it wasn't too far in the semester to change, and surely he would allow her to do as such since she was the Head Girl.

Then, she would hire Dobby to always bring her meals to her dorm so she would never have to go to the dining hall again, and THEN…

"No, no, no, this is ridiculous! I can't do that; I can't just hide from him my whole life… I just need someone to talk to, yes that's it," Hermione muttered to herself, thinking rationally for the first time that day.

"Well, well, well, Granger has finally cracked. Of course, I knew this would happen one day, probably sooner rather than later; and here you are talking to yourself. Classic," Malfoy drawled, leaning against the wall by the portrait door. She had not even heard him enter at all; she had been so deep in thought. She merely cast him a glare, and stood up, attempting to find solace in her bedroom, alone. He stepped in front of her path, smirking widely.

"I saw that you weren't in potions class today, Granger, I've never seen you miss a class. Where were you?" He implored.

"Not that it's any of your business, Malfoy, but I was sleeping in my bedroom… I've been very ill," She lied, stepping around him and proceeding to walk toward her staircase. He stopped her again.

"You don't look ill now, and you certainly didn't look ill last night when Snape carried you in here, passed out cold," He looked at her knowingly, waiting for her reaction.

"I- I don't know what you're talking about Malfoy, so if you'll just excuse me –"

"Sleeping with a Professor, tsk tsk Granger, and I didn't think you could stoop so low. Is that how you get your grades; sideling up to your teachers and seducing them into the sack? Ha!" He laughed wildly for a moment, seeing the shocked look on her face as she tried to sputter out a response.

"You know, you can be expelled for this, Granger… and I might be going on a little stroll to the Headmaster's office later tonight, if you know what I mean," He loved watching her face turn beet red, and knowing that he was the one to cause it.

"I did no such thing, Malfoy! I told you, I've been ill, and Professor Snape merely cooked up a potion to help me get better, that's all," She was never a good liar.

"Then why didn't you go to Madam Pomphrey instead? Why would it have to be late at night in a _male_ Professor's room? And why did he have to carry you in here, looking very pleased about something, while you're looking like you just drank an entire bottle of Fire Whiskey and passed out?" He looked at her; determined to detect any trace of a lie in her response.

"Madam Pomphrey didn't have…what I needed." And with that, Hermione broke out into a steady jog, went straight up her dormitory stairs and closed her bedroom door, locking it in its place and refusing to answer any more of Malfoy's constant questions. _It was none of his business anyway…_

However, she could not deny that his questions had made her nervous. She obviously had _not_ slept with Professor Snape, let alone any of her professors, but that was not the point. The point was that Malfoy was probably going to go around and tell everyone that he knew, and probably those that he did not know, that she was a big slut. This of course, was not true at all. These thoughts plagued Hermione for the rest of the evening, as she could not help but ponder all the possible horrible things that he could tell people. Would they believe him?

* * *

Night had fallen before Hermione realized that she was hungry. Her aggravated stomach would not let her concentrate on anything but itself, so, reluctantly; she made her way to the portrait door. She would not be afraid of running into anyone. She could not allow herself to succumb to that sort of awful paranoia. So, with her head held high, she exited the Head Dormitory, and made her way to the great hall for dinner.

When she arrived, she realized with a jolt, that she wouldn't be able to sit next to Harry, as he had still not spoken to her in over a week due to Ron's expulsion. She hoped that he would eventually come around, but for the time being perhaps she would just sit with Neville…

"Hermione! Come sit over here, we really have a lot to talk about," Hermione heard the voice of Ginny Weasley ring out above all the other voices. She really was a firecracker; and a loud one at that. Hermione knew that she could not avoid her fellow Gryffindors forever, so she made a bee-line towards Ginny, who was sitting with none other than Harry Potter. She did not look him in the eye, but instead pretended as if he did not exist at all, after all, that was exactly what he had been doing to her and it was only fair. Ginny smiled sadly at Hermione before beginning her tirade.

"Hermione, I want you to know that I don't blame you for what Ron did, and it was way out of line for him to do anything like that. I mean, I have to be there for him because he's my brother, but I know what he did was really wrong. Mum has sent me a couple letters saying how sorry he is that he did that, and that he knew that he shouldn't have and to send his sincerest apologies to all of his friends for his actions, and an especially heartfelt apology to you, Hermione. I know some people," She gave Harry a hard glare, "don't understand, but I want you to know that I'm here for you whenever you need me, and I don't want us to not be friends because of something my brother did. I've been trying to tell you that for a week now, but I could never seem to find you! Where have you been?" Ginny finished, taking a deep breath, and smiled, patting Hermione on the knee, waiting for her response.

Hermione didn't know what to say; she was just so very glad that Ginny had decided that she could still be her friend, even after Hermione got her brother expelled. It was amazing, sometimes, what kind of real and true friendships were made at Hogwarts. For all of that, she was extremely grateful. She looked over at Harry through teary eyes, and saw that he looked slightly ashamed at himself, but he still said nothing. Hermione knew he would come around, but she also knew better than to push him. She turned back to Ginny and merely nodded, enveloping her in a hug. She knew she was causing a scene, but didn't care, as she cried into Ginny's long red hair.

"Thank you, Ginny, for everything, really... I mean it. I've been wanting to talk to you too, but I've just been so scared that… that…" She couldn't speak for a moment, and she waited until she regained some composure. "I'll explain everything, if you want to come with me up to my room?" She asked, hoping she would accompany her. Talking to a friend was just what she needed right now. Ginny, thankfully, nodded.

"Of course, I'm finished here anyway, if you want to go now?" Ginny asked. Hermione nodded, and grabbed a banana and a dinner roll, and stood up, giving Harry one last look. He looked down to avoid her gaze, and she walked away.

"He'll come around, Hermione, just give him time."

* * *

Hermione and Ginny were seating on the plush couch in front of the fire. They both sipped on hot cocoa that Dobby had brought up special for them, and watched as the flames licked at the sides of the smoldering wood in its grate. Hermione proceeded to tell Ginny about all her feelings about the whole Ron situation, and felt immensely better. She didn't think it was the right time to tell her what had happened with Snape the previous night.

They chatted about this and that until late at night, when Malfoy decided to saunter in, drunker than they had ever seen him. Ginny covered her mouth with a small hand, and stifled a giggle. Malfoy was staggering through the portrait when he tripped and fell face first into the armchair nearest them. He clumsily lifted himself up, muttering something about 'Pansy being the biggest bitch in the world', and stood up, trying his hardest to focus his eyes on the two figures in front of him. Ginny couldn't help but laugh, and Hermione found it hard not to clutch her sides due to her silent laughter.

"You… look… ridiculous…" Ginny sang out in between loud laughs that she could no longer contain.

"You, Weasley, don't know me… and as for you, Granger," He staggered away from them, walking behind the couch in the direction of his bedroom, "Sleep with your teachers. So ha, I win," he said, falling over once again. This time, he did not move, save to get in a better position for sleeping. He gave out a loud grunt-like snore before Hermione turned back to the redhead, only to see that she was looking at her with wide eyes, all traces of laughter gone from her face.

"You slept with a professor?!"

* * *

Tell me what you think!! I really enjoyed writing this chapter!! 3 


	7. Trouble on the Horizon

**Chapter Seven**

**Trouble on the Horizon**

**(A/N -- a MASSIVE thank you goes out to EuruthiadwenGreenleaf, xscarredforlifex, heidi191976, sexii-severus, notwritten, miss evil Ishtar, FallenAngelGirl (especially her, since she reviewed like four times!), latinachikita, Amber-Jade James, and SlytherinSarah for reviewing the 6th chapter!** _Also, very special thanks to my new beta! She's wonderful (even if she was late, ha-ha)! _**Any questions you have, put it in a review and I'll get back to you! Now, Onward!**

The next day found Hermione in the Great Hall, sipping on her pumpkin juice trying her best to have a normal conversation with Ginny Weasley. This was proving to be near impossible. Ginny, though a normally lovely girl, had developed quite an annoying habit since the previous night when she had been forced to tell Ginny all the "dirty" details of her escapade with Snape.

"Hey Hermione, could you pass me a slice of that '_you made out with Snape' _cake?" She would ask, and then mumble the last part, so that Harry and Neville could not hear.

Or, "Hey Hermione, how did you do on your_ 'you made out with Snape' _exam yesterday_?" _

And by far the one that least made sense, "Hey Hermione, are you coming to visit for the _'you made out with Snape' holidays_?"

Hermione lost count of Ginny's '_you made out with Snape_' count after thirty slights. She sighed, exasperated. "Ginny could you please give it a rest? I'm sure I'm not the only one to do something like that, and anyways, I'm sure Snape will just ignore me for the rest of the term for my 'accident', which in my opinion, is for the better." Hermione cringed when she looked up at the staff table and saw the man in question violently stabbing a meatball, as if it had done him some great personal wrong.

"Yeah, but Hermione… You made out with _Snape_!" Ginny said, smiling and stuffing a pumpkin pasty in her mouth.

"Ginny! That's enough!"

"Okay, okay I'm sorry, I'll lay off. I'm just saying…" She looked at her, wiggling her eyebrows up and down.

Hermione sighed again, knowing that the redhead would have to eventually lose steam, so for the time being, she would do her best to avoid her until she lost interest in the subject. Hermione gave her one last dire look and took a sip of her pumpkin juice, before grabbing her books and standing up.

"Well, I'm off to class; I'll see you later tonight?" Hermione asked Ginny, glad that she could at least talk to someone now. She glanced at Harry who was looking directly at her, but still, said nothing. She frowned.

"Sure thing Hermione, I'll be by around six or seven tonight, I've got Quidditch practice after my last class." Hermione nodded, smiling slightly, and set off for her third and last class of the day; double Transfiguration. She thought to herself how lucky she was, that today she did not have potions at all. No Potions, no Snape, no problem, as far as she was concerned. Today would be a good day; of that she was sure.

Indeed, the day _did_ go smoothly. In fact, by the time seven 'o' clock rolled around, Hermione found herself humming while editing her own Charms essay for the third time. Even Malfoy could not bring her down. His constant yelling and attempts at aggravation just could not change the fact that she had had a wonderful day. She wondered briefly if the day would get better, or if she were only setting herself up for a downfall and it was suddenly going to take a turn for the worse. Her thoughts were immediately interrupted when she heard a sharp knock on the door_. It must be Ginny._

Hermione went over to the portrait and it opened for her, revealing a worried looking redhead on the other side. "Hey Hermione, how are you?" She said uneasily.

"Fine, Ginny what's going on? You look… suspicious," Hermione said, peering around the corner, wondering if someone was following her. Just when she attempted to look around Ginny's thin form, she saw what was making her look so uneasy.

"Hello Hermione," said a familiar voice, equally as awkward.

"Harry… Why don't you both come in," Hermione said, bewildered as to why he was here with her. Harry waited back a ways, letting Hermione and Ginny lead him to wherever they wanted to go in the room. He didn't want to intrude, after all. He was honestly surprised that she didn't make him leave her presence, and not allow him into her dormitory at all.

"You're not mad at me for bringing him, are you Hermione?" Ginny asked pleadingly.

"No Ginny, of course I'm not mad. This just made my day that much better," Hermione breathed in a sign of relief as they all sat down on the couch facing the fireplace and Harry began to apologize profusely for his immature actions. Hermione just smiled.

The next day, Hermione woke up feeling much better than she had felt since the … incident with Ron. She now had two of her best friends in the world back, and there was nothing that could spoil her mood. Not even Snape. Hermione made it all the way to the dungeons and into the classroom before she started to feel nervous about seeing Snape for the first time since she…

_'…Made out with Snape!'_ Her conscious echoed, sounding suspiciously like Ginny.

She found her way to her seat, and after a moment of waiting, Harry showed up right as the bell was ringing. He sat by her today and was, Hermione noticed, being as nice as he could possibly be; almost to the point that he was starting to slightly annoy her. He helped her set up her potions supplies and her cauldron; he even lit it for her, which was of course, completely unnecessary. Hermione let him fawn over her without questioning him, knowing that it would make him feel better if she acted as though she was okay with it.

"Hey Hermione, why is Snape staring at you?" Harry asked, keeping up a fairly annoying, overly nice tone in his voice. He was trying to get back in her good graces after what a prat he had been. He had copiously apologized the night before for hours it seemed like, but he felt like it just wasn't enough.

Hermione looked up instinctively, however a little too quickly to seem natural, seeing that Professor Snape was indeed looking at her. His face changed from a look that she did not recognize, to one of extreme displeasure. That look, she _did_ recognize.

Snape was in a foul mood today alright. He had just had a most unpleasant conversation with Dumbledore about a certain _person_ that he cared not think about. Also, he didn't sleep at all the night before, and sleep was something that Snape held very dear. His list of priorities went as follows; Potions, sleep, antagonizing his students and peers. When one of these three things was disturbed, Snape became disturbed, and when Snape became disturbed, he would find a way to make sure everyone around him was as uncomfortable as he was. And today, Snape was feeling _very _disturbed.

It wasn't just last night that sleep had evaded him either; the night before that as well, had just as easily ran away from him, leaving him awake and annoyed until the wee hours of the morning. Being a skilled legilimens, his thoughts did not usually run away from him, as he usually kept them fairly in check. But run they did, especially that first night….

_Snape stood in this middle of his room, holding Granger in his arms, chuckling to himself at her defeat. He had decided to carry her to her own dormitory, thinking only of the consequences that she should wake up on his cold dungeon floor and 'freak out' so to speak. Or, on the off __chance that some idiotic student or teacher would stumble into his lair and find her there, sound asleep in his chambers_

_As he carried her sleeping fo__r__m through the dark corridors, he chuckled again, thinking of what McGonagall would say if she stumbled into his room again, unannounced, and saw that Hermione was still in his chambers. The mere thought was laughable. And laugh he did. In fact, he laughed to himself more on the way back to her dormitory than he had laughed in the past five years at least. The portrait opened for him, as he remembered the foolish password that Dumbledore had given her the night that she refused to speak. Oh, how things had seriously changed since that fateful night. _

_As he walked in, he saw that Draco Mal__foy had positioned himself on a__ lavish armchair by the fire, reading a book of which he could not read the title. He looked up when the portrait had opened, and he did not care to hide the shock that had crept onto his face. Of course, could he blame him? No. Here we was, the most hated professor in the entirety of Hogwarts, carrying __the biggest know-it-all bookworm__, not to mention the Head girl, who was passed out in his arms. Malfoy probably thought that he had either poisoned her, somehow killed her, __slept with her, got her drunk__ or found her drun__k, maybe even all of the above__… the list went on. Of course, he could not have Malfoy blabbing a completely skewed story around the castle. Actually, he couldn't have him telling _ANY_ story at all. _

_"Malfoy, I suggest you forget what you just saw and get back to your studies. I will know if you have opened your mouth, and you will have only me to answer to." He kept it short and sweet, and continued up to her bedroom, opening the door easily, and hoisting her from his arms to her bed. He wondered whether __or __not he felt even remotely bad for tranquilizing the wench… No__; h__e didn't. In fact, he was__ glad that he had thought of doing such__, rather than just sending her on her way, still under the influence of that horrible__ potion. Chances are, he would not__ have slept that night anyways, had he __set her free__, for he would have been terribly worried that __she would find some way into his private chambers again__ somehow break into his __bedroom,__ and attempt to seduce him aga__in. He shuddered at the thought, and returned to his quarters, thinking along the way._

_Being propositioned by students was not a typical occurrence in his career. In fact, this was the first time that he had let anything of this sort get as out of control as he__ had allowed __it to get__. Actually, he didn't allow it at all… merely another misfortune of his life that he would __have to __struggle__ to forget. He thought of Remus L__upin, who __during his teaching career, __was propositioned by a female student almost __twice a week__. Of course, __Lupin__ would never subject himself to such things, but the mere fact that he would laugh (gl__o__at) about it in the staff room was despicable. Even back when Severus had first began his post as Potions Master at Hogwarts, he heard of a small and slightl__y disturbing tale of Minerva McG__onagall getting __a rather forward proposal by a m__ale seventh year student who was failing her NEWT Transfiguration class._

_In fact, the more he thought about it, the angrier he became. Every single teacher, save Horace Slughorn (who was before his time), had been hit on by at least one student who wanted something or rather from them. Except him. Never, before the day that Longbottom, the prat, had flubbed up yet another potion, had any student attempted to come near him in__ such a __physical way. He tried to tell himself that he didn't ca__re, and they were only juvenile__ idiots with no pride or sense of morals, and what would he want from any of them; especially bushy-haired Granger. _

_That night he did not sleep. _

_All he could think of was what a bitter old man he had really become. It wasn't as if anything had __changed since he was a small boy __really__. He had __always been a very unhappy child__ and a very unhappy teenager as well. He had not had a good upbringing__ at all__, as his parents were deeply involved in the dark arts and saw fit to test their expertise on him as much as possible. His "home" was nothing more than a house that he was forced to stay in__, until the day that the fateful letter from Hogwarts arrived__. His years at Hogwarts had been both good and bad. On one hand, he escaped his family for the time being, reveling in the feeling that if he could just study hard enough, he could get a good job and never have to see them again. Of that, he did not have to worry, for by the time his twelfth birthday rolled around, his mother had been discovered dead, and his father had went missing. _

_The rest of his Hogwarts career had been littered with __being tormented by James Potter, Sirius Black, __Remus__ Lupin, and on occasion __Peter Pettigrew. Actually it had been most of his entire class, but he felt it was his right as the oppressed, to blame whomever he saw fit. After Hogwarts, he was swiftly taken in by the Dark Lord, where he served out his days, torturing and killing innocents, burning down buildings and homes, and giving Peter Pettigrew the hell he deserved. After he had come to Dumbledore in favor of joining the side of the light and vowing to be the best spy he could be, he thought his life might change for the better. _

_He was offered a job at Hogwarts, teaching his favorite subject; potions. Every year he would try to get the Defense against the Dark Arts position, only on the orders of Voldemort, who Snape thought was trying to live vicariously through him. Dumbledore knew Severus did not want the position at all, and went though the act of denying him each and every year, which was a small pittance for being in the dangerous position he was in with the Dark Lord._

_Hogwarts did give him a sense of satisfaction, though it was not the way that Dumbledore wished him to have it. Snape got satisfaction in favoring Slytherin over all other house and being in a position of power which he had been constantly denied throughout his entire life. It really was a good thing that Dumbledore tried to keep him in check as often as he could, for he did not know what he would do with his power, except abuse it further. _

_He did enjoy the art of potion making, of course, however he did _not_ enjoy the idea of teaching snot-nosed little ingrates the proper way to slice Dragon Heartstring, when he knew all they were going to do was screw it up. He had almost entirely lost faith in the students that went __through this school when the golden trio arrived, effectively squashing his last remaining hopes. If James Potter was bad, surely his offspring would be worse. Not only that, but Potter Jr. had made friends with yet another Weasley sibling, and Merlin knew he had had his fair share of them. Then there was Granger…_

He glanced upwards from his desk, looking at St. Potter helping Granger set up her cauldron. _'So they were on speaking terms again, were they?' _he thought menacingly. _'Just what I need…'_

He couldn't help but notice how overly friendly Potter was being with Granger; it was as if the last two weeks had not even happened, and they happily chatted under their breath, and out of his hearing range. He stared at her hair;_ what an overly large bushy hell that must be in the morning, if it looks like that after she has attempted to tame it._ The chuckle that was threatening to spill out of his mouth was abruptly stopped in its path when his dark eyes caught Hermione's light ones. He was caught; caught in the act of inadvertently, albeit blatantly, staring at her. He glared at her for effect, hoping she wouldn't get any ideas. Who knew what schoolgirl crush she might harbor for him now, after her embarrassing display of affection two nights ago; but he for one, would put a stop to it.

Hermione looked away when Snape glared at her, determined not to draw any attention to herself, well, more than she already had anyway. When Snape barked orders and put the instructions on the blackboard, she took extra care in making sure that she followed each one precisely. When she got to the third step, Snape began to meander through the tables, waiting for any mistakes to occur so that he could harass the person, take away house points, or just fail them for the day. When he came to Hermione and Harry's table, he deliberately stayed where he was and watched her work, waiting for the slightest mishap in her brewing techniques. When she got through half the class period without making a single mistake, Snape took things into his own hands.

"Miss Granger, you just put thirteen dragon scales into your potion," Snape snarled, "and that is wrong!" Then, with a swish of his wand, he cast _'Evanesco'_ on her potion, and that was the end of that. He felt his satisfied smirk begin to dissipate when he heard her voice ringing in his ears.

"Professor, I did not make any such mistake. On the board, under step seven, it clearly states to put in twelve to fourteen dragon scales in after one-hundred twenty counterclockwise stirs! I put in thirteen, which is a suitable number, and you've just ruined my perfectly good potion! This is an outrage!" Hermione raised her voice as high as she would dare, causing all the heads in the room to turn towards her direction.

"An outrage it may be, but everyone knows that thirteen is an unlucky number, Miss Granger. You of all people should know that," Snape sneered, "and see me after class for your out-of-control behavior and speech towards an authority figure. Oh, and ten points from Gryffindor for your cheek," Snape smirked widely at her, daring her to utter another word. When she sat down, red in the face and looking close to tears, he walked away and sat as his desk for the remainder of the class period. When the bell rang, he looked up and waited for Hermione to come to his desk so that he could speak with her.

"I'll meet up with you and Ginny later in the library okay? I promise," Hermione soothed Harry, who had been making obscene gestures at Snape for the last half of the period from under their table.

"Okay, if you're really sure," Harry said uneasily, before giving her a quick hug and being the last one out the door.

Hermione took a deep breath and promised herself she would not cry. If he issued her a detention, it would be her very first, and it would be a much undeserved one at that. She took another shuddering breath and approached his desk.

"Professor Snape, I would just like to say that I think you are being completely unfair about giving me a detention and I think my potion would have turned out completely alright and if you think that I will not go to Dumbledore about this then you are sorely –"Hermione's rant was cut off by Snape holding up the palm of his hand to silence her.

"Firstly, you have no right to tell me what I will do in my own classroom. Secondly, I was not going to give you a detention at all, but I merely had some things to discuss with you. Thirdly, because of your impudence, I will have to give you a detention anyway, tonight at eight 'o' clock sharp. Do not bring your wand." Snape smiled at her obviously distressed facial expression.

"You, you, you can't do that! I didn't do anything wrong!" Hermione sputtered.

"Ah, on the contrary Miss Granger, you did do something wrong, I can do that, and I just did do that. Now if you would kindly close that gaping hole in the middle of your face, I have one last thing to discuss with you." He took a deep breath, "Professor Dumbledore would like me to… speak… with… you… about a certain class… if you're interested… an advanced section of potions… which he sees fit to make me offer students. He asked me to specifically ask you in person," he said through gritted teeth, acting as though this was the very last thing he wanted to ask her. "This should take care of your little problem of finding some after-class activities to occupy your time with. That was what your little letter was about after all, wasn't it?" _Please say no, please say no, please say no.__ Save me from this eternal hell!_

Hermione paused to think, coming to her conclusion quickly. "Well, I guess that'll will be fine. I'll check it out. When is it again?" Hermione asked; her curiosity and her love for learning overriding her desire to slap him across the face for being such a prat. His hopes for peaceful afternoons in the future were crushed.


	8. If You're Happy and you Know It

**Chapter Eight**

**If You're Happy and you Know It…**

**(A/N -- a MASSIVE thank you goes out to for reviewing the 7th chapter!** _Also, very special thanks to my beta! She's wonderful)! _**Any questions you have, put it in a review and I'll get back to you! Now, Onward!**

* * *

Hermione wandered through the halls of the library, looking for any book that might take her mind off her current predicament. She had been given her first detention ever, but, on the other hand, she would be taking a new class that had the potential to interesting, if not very exciting. However, Snape was teaching the class. On the other hand, she could always drop it if she felt like it. But then…

Hermione let her mind drift from thought to thought as she looked through the dusty volumes in the farthest section of the library. No student ever dwelled here, on the off chance that they may be discovered and branded a know-it-all like herself. Hermione snorted, "Anything but that…"

"Talking to yourself again Granger? And I thought it was a onetime thing," Hermione turned around quickly, alarmed at hearing Malfoy's voice in such a deserted part of the school. She glanced around furtively before speaking.

"What is it you want, Malfoy?"

"Oh you know, this and that. I thought we might come to a little arrangement, Granger… one that you can't and _won't _refuse," Malfoy smirked his signature smirk, glancing down at his shapely fingernails, letting the dread sink into Hermione.

"No, Malfoy, I thought you would know better than anyone that I would never accept any kind of proposal, idea, or arrangement of any kind that you could ever come up with."

"Well it has to do with a certain _Professor…_"

Hermione fidgeted with the tie of her uniform and cleared her throat uneasily. _How much did he know?_

"I d-don't know what you're talking about, yet again, Malfoy, so if you'll excuse me, I'd like to find the book I've been…"

"Don't kid yourself Granger, here's the deal… You help me with Transfiguration and I don't go blabbing to the whole school that you're doing Snape," Malfoy said, holding out his hand, "Deal?"

It was hard for Malfoy to admit that he needed just the slightest bit of help with any of his studies. He did not have a terrible grade in the subject, but it was not as high as he would have liked it to be, and for that he needed help. Also, Lucius would not be pleased with anything below outstanding…

"I'm not doing Snape!" Hermione shouted, a little too loudly. It would only be a matter of time until Madam Pince found them and wondered what a male and female student would be doing in this deserted section of the library. Hermione cringed at the thought. Doing anything… sexual… with Malfoy would be almost as bad as doing anything with…

Snape.

Why did her thoughts always have to lead her _there._ She felt her cheeks flush.

"I take it we have a deal then, Granger?" Malfoy sneered, hoping that she would not see through his façade. The truth was, he did not know anything about why Snape had carried her into the heads dorm that night. Not only that, but Snape had strictly forbade him from telling a single soul, and he knew that when Snape threatened anyone, he meant business. So, although Malfoy had no intention of spreading any lies or strange stories about Granger and Professor Snape, what she didn't know, wouldn't hurt him.

Hermione could think of no way out of the newest situation she was put in and mutely nodded her response to him. He grinned in a Malfoy-esque way, tipped an invisible hat on his head and said, "Pleasure doing business with you Granger, I'll see you Tuesdays and Thursdays at 8," and he trotted off, pleased at his victory.

Hermione cringed. As much as she had wanted to say no, she knew that she couldn't, if she wanted to maintain her dignity and her reputation of being a good, clean, virginal girl with high moral standards. The thought that she could run to Dumbledore and tell him had crossed her mind, but there was nothing Dumbledore could do with a threat. So, unless he actually started said rumor, the chances are she would merely be sent back to her dormitory with nothing more than a piece of hard candy from his desk.

The next week followed without incident, unless you counted her first detention ever. Hermione went to all of her classes, unwillingly helped Malfoy with his Transfiguration homework and hung out with Harry and Ginny when she could find time. She would not let her thoughts lead her anywhere near Snape or potions if she could help it, and that suited her quite well. However, as it was during the afternoon on a Monday, she found that she could not ignore her thoughts on the subject, and allowed them to reign freely as she returned to her dorm after her last class of the day, advanced Ancient Runes.

Her detention had been as bad as she anticipated, and more awkward than she could have imagined. She could still recall it in every detail as if it had just happened yesterday.

* * *

_She had walked down the many staircases into the dungeons and arrived at Professor Snape's classroom at 8 o clock sharp. She knocked on the door and heard a voice call out "Enter," and she stepped in cautiously, looking for where Professor Snape was. She didn't see him in the main classroom and assumed that he was lurking somewhere behind the ancient door that led to his private chambers. She blushed at the memory of what happened not so long ago in his private chambers…_

_She stepped silently farther into the room, sitting down in the closet stool to his desk and waited for him to emerge into the classroom. He decided to take his time._

_After 10 minutes of waiting, she began to wonder if he had forgotten about her, and pondered whether or not she should knock on the door that led to his study. She got up and trotted over to the large door; she raised her fist to politely knock to make sure he hadn't completely forgotten about her presence when t__he door opened outwards alarmingly fast, causing it to strike Hermione quite brutally. She flew about five feet in the air, colliding into several stools, which promptly fell over on her head, causing her to yell out in pain. _

_She removed the stools from her slight form, and attempted to stand up, brushing herself off and wincing in pain at the already forming bruises on her thighs and forearms. However, she tried to s__tand too fast, causing her head __to swim, making her dizzy and faint. She reached her arm out to grab onto a desk to steady herself but missed, causing her to stumble backwards. _

_Snape watched this horrifically clumsy scene unfold in front of him, and when she began to stumble backwards, his mind searching for the answer as to whether or not he should catch her or leave her there to suffer from her own ungainly actions. Before he could make up his mind, she fell backwards again, hitting her head on one of the desks behind her with a sickening crunch, falling to the ground. She moaned in pain. He chuckled out loud at her stupidity, and before he realized what he was doing, he leaned forward and grabbed the back of her neck and her waist and heaved her forward, helping her up. She stumbled and moaned in pain, clutching her head._

_"You must be the __clumsiest__ person ever to walk into this dungeon," Snape mumbled absently, picking up a fallen stool with one hand and setting her in __it with the other. She still clutched her head when she spoke._

_"No, Neville is."_

_Snape nodded mutely and went into his storeroom to find a mild pain reliever. If she was to ride out her detention with him, she would not be able to use the excuse that she needed to go to Madam Pomphrey for a headache relief potion. He would not let her be that sneaky. He sna__tched a blue bottle, realizing __that he was out of the pain reliever he desired, and decided to give her the next best thing, though he realized later that this may have been a mistake. _

_"Drink this," He said, thrusting the potion into her view. She lifted up her head and stared at it. _

_"What is it?" She asked, wincing. She realized this seemed strangely familiar._

_"It's a pain reliever, just drink it Ms. Granger," he said sternly, wiping some stray hairs out of his face and turning around to close his store cupboard doors._

_"Most pain relievers are red," She said plainly, observing the vial in front of her._

_"Drink it before I take away house points," he said turning around to scowl at her._

_"You can__'__t do…"_

_"Open your mouth and take it!" He said sternly, watching the emotions play out on her face. He frowned when he saw a deep blush cross her cheeks. Why must he always throw out sexual innuendos only around her?_

_She said no more, but lowered her eyes to the table and tried to will away her impure thoughts. It did not work, but she still drank the potion, surprised that it tasted quite lovely. Just when she was about to ask what it was, she realized it herself. Drought of happiness. And then, before she could stop herself…_

_"Oh wow Professor this tastes great! Can I have some more? You know I don't mind my head hurting so much, it's a nice kind of dull throbbing, you know? I love this room! It always smells so different every time I'm in it! What do you think Professor?" Hermione giggled then, hopping down from her stool to stand up and stretch, feeling quite rejuvenated._

_Snape grunted, "I think you should sit down and get out a quill and parchment and write the following 1000 times. _I shall not speak back to professor Snape."

_"Oh that sounds lovely," Hermione said excitedly, rummaging about in her duffel to find her ink and parchment. And to Snape's surprise, she quietly, but happily, got out her things and got to work on her detention assignment._

_Snape watched her for a moment more before__ heading towards his private chambers, willing himself to believe that she would sit tight__ and not bother him, though he still had his doubts. He __went into his study and closed the door behind him. He would come out in a few hours when she would be close to finishing. _

_He only had time to settle down with a book for a half hour when his door burst open, revealing a very happy and excited Hermione. She was holding a stack of parchment in her hand and began to fervently waving them around._

_"Finished!" Hermione shouted, much louder than was necessary, startling Snape even more so than he was with the door bursting open randomly._

_"Miss Granger, would you kindly, get out?" He said through gritted teeth, pointing towards the door._

_"Oh silly Snapey, can't you just be happy? Can't you just love everything, like me?" She asked, throwing the parchment into the air, and throwing her hands out and spinning around like a 7 year old. _

_"Miss Granger, get out before I get you expelled for…"_

_"Got to catch me first!" Hermione screeched, turning and running into the next room. In the back of her head, she realized that no sane person would do this, but she couldn't stop herself. It just seemed so right, and she just felt so… happy!_

_Snape got up as calmly as was humanly possible for the current situation at hand. 'Why did Granger always insist on breaking into his private chambers?' He thought to himself, grumbling audibly._

_As Snape searched through each room, he unconsciously avoided entering his bed chambers. As Snape was searching, Hermione crept in the shadows of his bedroom smirking to herself at her clever scheme. She hid under his bed, noting the lack of dust bunnies, and awarding him a silent nod of satisfaction that he would never see. She finally heard the door open, and saw his wand light up with a 'lumos' spell that he must have said under his breath. She saw his slow and uneasy steps as he walked around his room, looking behind doors and under __small side tables. She could tell from his feet, that he was being unnaturally cautious, just to find a rogue student in his private chambers. She wondered why only briefly __before she realized what the reason probably was_

_'He probably thinks I'm going to jump out from behind a painting and molest him or something,' she thought, and giggled a little too loudly. She tried to stifle her giggling but it was getting out of control. He had surely heard her, for his footsteps died and she saw him begin to walk her way. All of the sudden he bent down and she saw the curtain of black hair fall in front of his stern face, as he looked underneath his bed at the giggling schoolgirl. _

_"Miss Granger! Get out!" He could not fit under his own bed, and he could hardly reach her. When her giggling turned__ into a__ louder chuckling he reached as far as he could and snatched her ankle, dragging her out from under the bed, feet first. Her laughter became louder and louder, for some reason she thought what was happening was hilarious. She couldn't stop. Snape snatched her around the waist, thrusting her up and throwing her roughly onto his bed. He snarled at her aggressively when she didn't notice__ his __hostile__ nature. He grabbed her wrists, trying to startle her out of her hysterics, pinning her to his bed angrily. _

_"Miss Granger, control yourself! You're out of control!" He yelled at her, looming over her threateningly, pushing her wrists deeper into his black silk comforter. Her laughter died down, but she still had a large grin on her face, which maddened him to no end. She giggled again slightly before lifting her legs and wrapping them behind his back and pulling him onto her and rolling him beside her. He temporarily forgot what he was doing with his hands and released her wrists out of alarm. His mind went blank as she rolled over and got up on her knees, still on his bed, a shadow playing across her face from the forgotten lit wand that lay some feet away on the opposite side of the bed. She brought one of her arms over him and rested it on the other side of his head onto the black comforter__. She stared at him__, leaning closer__, a smirk playing across her face. His breathing hitched and he unwillingly closed his eyes._

_Before he even had time to open his eyes he felt something strike his face and then he heard Hermione yell out._

_"Pillow fight!"_

* * *

Hermione shook her head at the memory, it was all very embarrassing and terrible and everything bad that you could ever think of, but there was no changing the past. After she had announced a pillow fight, he had promptly grabbed her and carried her to the classroom, opened the dungeon door and literally thrown her out on her ass and slammed the door in her face without a single word. Now, a week later found her walking towards his dungeon room again, ready to begin her first day in advanced potions. She already had a funny feeling about the night to come.


	9. Sweet Dreams

**Chapter Nine**

**Sweet Dreams**

**(A/N -- a MASSIVE thank you**** goes out to for reviewing the 8****th chapter!** _Also, __I really would like some more reviews, so if you guys like it, please review; it makes my heart soar!_**Any questions you have, put it in a review and I'll get back to you! ****Also, please no flames. I do accept constructive criticism though****. But as much as I dislike the flame, I LOOOOVEEE the reviews sooo much more!! **

**Oh wait. ****To**_** theinvisibilitiycloak**__**– I know that the Ron thing was weird, but I had originally intended on making this ****go in a ****different**** direction****, however, it changed, and that's why it seems a little strange. Please forgive me; it will not be a main part of the story**_

_**Also, this IS rated M, so for those of you reading, please**__** beware**_**. I get pretty feisty, and this chapter includes such**** (You will all be happy to know…tee hee)****. Now, ONWARD!**

* * *

Hermione wondered if this was such a good idea at all, as she stood outside of the potions room door. After all, bad things seemed to happen every time she set foot in this classroom as of late. She was starting to feel nervous every time she even thought about Snape, which was not a good sign. According to her, thinking about someone, even a teacher, was an indication that you cared what they thought, and Hermione had to continuously tell herself that she did not, in fact, care what the greasy haired potions master had to think.

Then again, what he did think could hurt her in this case, as she was willingly putting herself under his fierce glare for the next hour and a half. She shifted her weight from one foot to the other as she bit her lip and pondered as to whether or not she should just turn on her heels, with her tail between her legs, so to speak, and run. Just when she had made up her mind to turn away, the large dungeon door opened, revealing a very agitated Snape.

"Miss Granger, may I implore as to why you are lurking outside of my room? Or were you planning on making potions right here in the corridor…?" He said snidely, staring at the wall behind her and stepping backwards to allow her embarrassed form inside.

"Sorry Professor," she muttered. She couldn't back away now; not when Snape had found her standing right outside. How cowardly would that look? She cringed; she was wondering about what Snape would think of her again.

Hermione found herself following her very aggravated Professor into the farthest corner of the room where he muttered an unlocking spell and proceeded to open up the rusty twin doors of his store cupboard. She watched as he took out several vials from many different shelves, not taking a very long look at any of the different shaped bottles to know what they were. Apparently he knew most of them by heart, and although he made quick work of extracting the various potions he needed, she noted that he was very gentle with the way he snatched them, careful not to break or drop them. She shook her head slightly when he turned back to her and spoke.

"Do not expect me to go easy on you for your first lesson, Miss Granger," He said, refusing to look her directly in the eye.

"No sir, I didn't think th-"

"And I do not tolerate mistakes, this is after all an advanced potions session, and I am not a very forgiving man," He stared at a spot just above her right ear while speaking. He then turned and walked away from her without saying a word, though Hermione took it to mean that she should follow.

"You will be, without my assistance, brewing a very complex potion. It is not like the dreamless sleep potion that the regular potions class brewed last year. However, this is still a dreaming potion, and while it is quite advanced, it does not take but an hour to concoct," He set the vials down on the table closest to his teachers desk. "Do you have any questions before you begin? I have many, most likely terrible, 3rd year essays to grade, so if you don't mind…" He said in a very forced tone through clenched teeth.

He seemed to be in an even fouler mood than usual, Hermione thought, and weighed her chances of being thrown out of his room again if she indeed did ask a question. She opted for it anyway, though she braced herself in case of a sudden attack on his part. She would take more time later to wonder what had put him in such a foul mood.

"Just one sir, what exactly does this potion do for the user's dreams?" She felt foolish for not knowing the answer; the truth was, she hadn't even heard of this potion.

As if he had read her thoughts, he looked up from his teacher's desk, through a curtain of black hair and said, "I wouldn't expect you to know its effects, since it was I who invented it. It renders the users dreams to be as pleasant as one could imagine, completely abolishing any night terrors the user might have. It will be particularly useful for the war victims' often nightly nightmares."

"You invented this potion?" She exclaimed, suddenly ravenous for more information. While she did not particularly enjoy Snape's company, especially after their recent… escapades, she did respect him, and the thought of a newly invented potion in front of her, not even on the market yet, made her yearn to know how he had accomplished such a feat.

He did not spare her a single glance while he continued to mark bright red lines on poor students papers as he spoke, "Yes, and I expect you to brew it well, for it will be you who it is tested on, before next class."

* * *

Hermione made a visit to the Gryffindor common room a little before ten that night. She did not waste any time lollygagging around, and promptly began working on assignments that were not due for at least a week. She poured herself into her work, only to be interrupted once when Ginny and Harry came to sit next to her to work on their homework as well. Ginny asked how her extra class with Snape had gone and she relived the tale for them both, not bothering to stop when Harry muttered obscenities under his breath at the thought of willingly hanging out with Snape.

"Are you actually going to drink that potion Hermione?" Ginny asked bewildered.

"I have to. Snape wants me to write a 16 inch essay on the exact details of my dream and turn it in to him on Wednesday, which is the next time I see him for Advanced Potions," she shrugged when they looked appalled.

"Hermione, if I didn't know any better, which I might, I would say that Snape's trying to frighten you into dropping that class… or work you to death," Harry said scathingly.

"You may be right Harry, but I won't give in to his sarcastic remarks or attempts at throwing me out just yet," Hermione muttered, rolling up her finished Transfiguration essay into a tight scroll and standing up.

"Did he even check to make sure you got the potion right before he told you to leave?" Ginny asked at Hermione's retreating form.

And just as she reached the portrait of the fat lady, she said quietly, "No, of course he didn't," and she swept out of the room and began the long walk to the heads dormitory.

* * *

When she snuggled into bed, deep within her warm, light blue duvet, she quickly nodded off. A tickle at her nose caused her to awaken some hours later, and she realized with a jolt that she had not taken the potion that Snape requested. Surely he wouldn't know if I made it up… would he? On further inspection of the matter, she realized that he would. One of the downsides to having Snape as a Professor was that you could never lie and get away with it; not with him being such a superior Legilimens, that is.

She looked towards her window, noticing that the orange sun was already starting to peak over the horizon. Luckily, today was Tuesday and she could wait until later tonight to take the potion, since she didn't see Snape again until Wednesday evening. Unfortunately, this would take valuable time away from perfecting the essay that he requested, but hopefully she would make do.

* * *

The day went by much too quickly for Hermione's liking with her classes flying by in a blur, and with helping Malfoy with his stupid Transfiguration essay. She put up with his rudeness, not out of politeness, but out of sheer desperation to keep other people's noses out of her supposed business with Snape, which she reminded herself, she did not have.

The next thing she knew, she found herself packing up her night's homework and heading towards the bathroom with the vial of (hopefully) sweet dreams. She uncorked the bottle and looked at herself in the mirror.

"Bottom's up," she said, gulping it down quickly, noting that it tasted as good as the happiness potion that Snape had given her before, but lighter and more airy. She corked the bottle and began to set it on the shelf that hovered above her sink. She paused momentarily, swaying from side to side, her vision blurring.

"Oh no… This can't be g-"

She tried to steady herself, but felt herself slipping away. She vaguely recognized the vial slipping from her hand and shattering on the hard tile floor. She swayed one last time before falling into a heap on the floor, entering a world of unconsciousness without a thought or care in the world.

* * *

___Hermione looked around at the sight before her. She was in a__ seemingly never-ending__ field of flowers; her favorite, tulips. She smiled, grabbing one and unearthing it, bringing it to her nose and inhaling its sweet aroma. It was night, but she was not afraid. The moon was nearly full and its light cast __a__ shimmering glow on everything around her. There was no mist around, but she felt as though she were on a cloud, an unearthly feeling around her. This place was perfect. _

___"If only I had someone to share it with," she said aloud, though no one would hear her._

___As if the field could read her thoughts,__ however,__ a small cottage appeared some thirty yards away. Hermione smiled happily. It looked like a large mushroom, the roof being the top, and the walls being the thick stem__. She jogged over to the house curiously, __and before she could knock, the door opened, revealing a grinning Snape, dressed very casually in a dark blue sweater and slacks._

___"Hermione, I've been expecting you. Please come in," she stepped into Severus Snape's home, feeling a vague familiarity to it like she had been here many times before. _

___"Where is the potion?" She heard herself say._

___"Downstairs in the lab, would you like to accompany me?" He said, holding out his rough hand to her. _

___"Of course," She said, grinning._

___ "But first, how would you like some lemon tea?" Snape said, revealing a silver platter out of nowhere._

___"My favorite!" Hermione squealed, everything was so wonderful here._

___After they drank their tea and talked amongst themselves, she followed him hand in hand down the cobblestone stairs that led to the basement. He very gently tugged her with his hand in hers, seeming to be very excited. But when she walked downstairs, she did not see a lab. In fact, she saw her potions class__room, complete in every detail, right down to the stools she had knocked over a week ago, injuring herself. _

___When she turned around, there were no steps behind her, only a __dreary,__ gray dungeon wall. Snape was no longer dressed so informally, but instead he was dressed in his usual black sweeping robe and black trousers. He wasn't holding her hand either; he was behind his dark mahogany desk, busily grading essays. Though he did not look angry, he did look apprehensive, as if waiting for something, trying very hard not to concentrate on it. _

___"Professor, I'm here for my detention," her words floated out of her mouth as she walked towards his desk. She felt herself get nervous, butterflies__ floating around her stomach… her throat… her head._

___The apprehension gone from his face, she realized he had been waiting for her to arrive. One should not keep Severus Snape waiting for long, and he voiced as much._

___"You are five minutes late Miss Granger," He said standing, circling around behind her, causing her to turn around and back into his desk __inattentively__. She cringed, waiting for him to take away house points, though she knew that he would not do this. _

___The words slipped out of her mouth before she could stop them, "My sincerest apologies Professor, are you going to punish me?" The corners of her mouth tilted up in a repressed grin._

___"Oh yes, Miss Granger," he said silkily, stepping closer to her until he was mere inches away from her face, "Of that, you can be very sure." _

___And with that, she felt him push against her with his whole body, leaning her backwards slightly as he pressed his lips against her own, letting his hands roam freely all over her body. __In a moment of surprise she opened her mouth allowing his__ tongue to slip inside__, searching every corner of the warm cavern. She complied hungrily, though something in the back of her __muddled __mind__, something told her this was strange._

___A surprisingly warm hand delved under the bottom of her school __uniform __blouse that__ she had just noticed she wore, caressing her stomach, making her knees turn to jelly. He prized his lips from hers, and she could tell that her own were already starting to bruise from his rough __advancements__. His lips did not stay away from long as she gasped when they were brought down on her collarbone. How did she lose her shirt?_

___She did not notice his robe dissolve between her fingers as she was too preoccupied with what his hands were doing. His left hand had lifted up her skirt and was tickling her thigh__ in an excruciatingly slow rhythm__, causing an intense heat to flood to her core. His right __hand __was inconspicuously drifting along her side, making its way to the back of her red lacey bra. When he expertly undid it with one hand, it dissolved into nothingness and she felt the cool dungeon air blow on her already hardened __peak__s. _

___"Oh!" She breathed out loudly when he lifted her up with his left arm, his forearm reaching beneath her bum, underneath her skirt. With __his other hand,__ he rough__ly swiped__ everything on his desk to the floor. Placing her down on his desk and pushing her backwards. Her breasts were __completely exposed to the world__, she noted __hazily__, and she felt her shoes being slipped off. _

___He pushed her legs apart, which were hanging over the side of the desk, with his own, __and he leaned forward to place his hot mouth on her right nipple, using his left hand to grab her other breast as __forceful as he could without injur__ing her__…much.  
_

___She had lost all coherent thought as he twirled his tongue around her peak, nipping at it, and sucking. She nearly fainted when she heard a zip that could only have come from him, as her __skirt did not have one. __In fact, where was her skirt? __She felt wetness rush to her now throbbing __center__, sucking in her breath in anticipation. She heard the rustling of clothes and felt her lacey underwear disappear, replaced with a chilling breeze. She shuddered involuntarily when she felt his hardness press against her center._

___"This will not be over quickly Miss __Granger;__ I am not a 17 year old boy. There is no backing out now," Snape growled._

___She squeaked involuntariliy. __She heard the __sound __come out of her mouth, though it did not sound like her own voice.__ He appraised her._

___"__Do you have a request of me, Miss Granger__?" He asked, rubbing the tip against her wetness._

___"Please sir! Fuck me!" _

___And with that he slammed into her in one hard thrust, sheathing himself completely in her. __He __slid in and out of__ her, igniting all the nerve endings __she had __under his silky touch. __They did__ not speak any more, for words were __needless__ when he was hammering into her harder and faster. She did not need to say deeper, for if he went any deeper, she would surely have __him__ in her lungs. She did not need to grip his muscled back, for he held her wrists above her head__ firmly in place. __She did not need to tell him to do anything different, because it was already so__… __ perfect. She was so full of him that she could hardly imagine anything else. There was no Harry or Ginny, or even Ron. There was no Gryffindor or Dumbledore__ or house points__, there was only her dark Potions Professor slamming himself into her tight __heat.__ She held on for dear life __as __two sharp thrusts later indicated his blissful release, __sending a rocket of delight through her__. S__he saw stars__ as she let go as well._

___They laid together in silence for some time before getting up._

___"Until the next time you ste__p a toe out of line Miss Granger and u__ntil your next detention," he said, buttoning his frock._

* * *

The room slowly liquefied around her as she was being shaken roughly awake by someone that she didn't want to see this early in the morning.

"Get away from me Malfoy, before I use the very poor judgment that I have right now to hex you into oblivion."

"Well I just want you to get the hell out so I can take a shower. You have a bed for sleeping you know."

She didn't say anything as she walked out of the bathroom. As soon as she reached the top of the steps that led to her bedroom and closed the door behind her, she allowed herself to panic.

What was she going to write in her essay to Snape?!

* * *

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW!! It only takes a second and the more I get the faster I write! I like to have at least 10 reviews per chapter, but I would be astounded if I could get more! Would anyone care to astound me?!

* * *


	10. The Essay

**Chapter Ten**

**The Essay**

**(A/N -- a MASSIVE thank you**** goes out to for reviewing the 9****th chapter!** _Also, __I really would like some more reviews, so if you guys like it, please review; it makes my heart soar!_**Any questions you have, put it in a review and I'll get back to you! ****Also, please no flames. I do accept constructive criticism though**

**Okay, you wonderful reviewers! I love the enthusiasm I've been getting, and I'm glad you took my comment about need for more reviews to heart! I love my reviewers!! WOOOO!!**

**Also, this ****fanfic is**** rated M, so for those of you reading, please**_** beware**_**. Now, ONWARD!**

Hermione went to her early classes, and then decided to take all of her lunch, as well as her free period after lunch, in the library to work on her essay for Snape.

She made her way into the back of the library where she would be mostly excluded from her peers. As much as she loved the library, she couldn't help feeling extremely nervous about why she was in there at the moment. There was no way she could write this essay, it just wasn't possible. What would she say? She would have to lie.

She got out her parchment, quill, and ink bottle as slowly as she could, taking the time to smooth out every crease she found on the paper in front of her. She dipped her quill in the inky blackness and put it to the parchment.

_Sweet Dreams Potion_

_By Hermione Granger_

She paused. See now… that wasn't so hard was it? She shook her head; this would surely be the end of her. She put her quill tip to the paper once more.

_The dreaming potion, once taken, affects its user almost instantaneously. It causes the user to feel groggy and to fall asleep within moments, much like that of the dreamless sleep potion, though this one, of course, causes the user to have very pleasant dreams._

She resisted the urge to cross out pleasant and replace it with questionable or disturbing.

_The user will dream… she or he will have dreams about... I had a dream about… My dreams were highly detailed in that they… I…_

She paused, annoyed, to scratch out her last attempts at the paper. She groaned in frustration, trying to think of anything she could say.

_As an example, I tested the potion on myself, and quickly felt its effects. I fell asleep to have the most pleasant dreams I can remember having since before the war. _

She continued to explain her dream up to the point where she jogged over to the mushroom house and then she stopped when the door opened and revealed…

_…and when I opened the door, Professor Dumbledore was there! And we chatted in his simple cottage over tea and __hard candy, until he told me that he had a surprise for me, where he led me down the stone steps into his basement. When I got to his basement, I saw that it was a water park that he had been secretly hiding. Harry and Ron were there, wearing lovely pink bathing suits._

_"Hermione," Ron yelled out to her. "Come on in, the waters great!"_

_Then I went and played in the water until it turned into cotton candy and I ate it all without getting fat. Then Dumbledore turned into Hagrid who…_

Hermione paused yet again. This was the stupidest thing she had ever written. Perhaps she would just tell Professor Snape that she forgot to do the assignment or that her dreams were of a delicate nature, that she could not discuss on paper… or in person… or ever… to anyone. Neither option sounded appealing because either way he would fail her. She pondered until she heard the bell ring that signaled that she had to go to her last class. She rolled up her parchment and sighed; this was not going to be a very good day.

The day flew by and the next thing Hermione knew, she was hearing the familiar voice of a much disliked professor announcing that she should enter.

She made her way towards his desk and placed her horrible essay on his desk, inwardly cringing at the poor quality of it. After all, even if she did get a bad grade on it, that was at least better than a failure. She had decided to turn in her horrible lie of a paper anyway, since she finished it in Ancient Runes, allowing herself to only slightly slip on her note taking. At the very least, it might be entertaining to see Snape read it and watch his expressions change from bad to worse. On second thought, that would not be entertaining in the slightest.

"What have we got here, Miss Granger? Your surely terrible essay that I'm being forced to read?" He snarled at her. He was still not too happy with her due to her frequent breaking and entering attempts on his private quarters. Not to mention her attacking him with her silly seduction attempts. He ignored the fact that the last time he had involuntarily closed his eyes… waiting…

He snarled at the memory and roughly grabbed her essay and uncurled it, allowing himself to read it while Hermione continued to shift her weight from foot to foot uneasily. He could not even manage to get through half of it before he threw it down on the table angrily.

"What is this rubbish, girl? This is complete trash," He said incredulously, looking up at her with black angry eyes.

"I-I- It's my dream! You can't call it rubbish if I… and…" She sputtered, feeling the blush creep up her neck and cheeks. She looked away, urging him not to call her out on her lie. She knew it was a lost cause.

"You're lying," He said simply, and for a split second he saw surprise in her eyes, along with disdain.

"I most certainly am not!" She said, more loudly than was entirely necessary. She urged herself to remain calm. The only thing he could do was fail her. Or giver her detention… or suspend her…?! These thoughts were most certainly not making her any more calm. In fact, she could feel her breathing increase slightly and hoped that he wouldn't notice.

"If you're done having your panic attack, Miss Granger, I would urge you to stand up, leave your things where they are," He said silkily, standing up himself and gliding around to the front of his desk where he saw Hermione standing up wearily, looking close to tears. Perfect.

He circled her, making her turn around and stare at him with wide eyes as she absentmindedly took a step backwards into his desk. Her eyes got wider as if she were remembering something very upsetting.

She watched Snape appraise her and she felt herself becoming increasingly wary. When she felt the cool wood of Snape's desk press against her backside, she became very alarmed. The previous night's dream came back to her in a flash as she remembered him pressing her up against his desk, kissing her, ravishing her… stroking her…

"Miss Granger, are you nervous?" He asked, taking a step towards her until he could almost feel her warm breath against his cheek. "I would remain very still if I were you."

"Wha-What are…?" Hermione stuttered, wondering if she had somehow dreamt of the future. She wondered if his lips were as soft as they were in her dream… She shook her head, trying in vain to clear it of those horrific thoughts.

"Careful Miss Granger, your fear is showing…" He said, taking a very small step back and raising his wand towards her head. She didn't have time to react before he had shouted.

"Legilimens!" And her mind went momentarily blank.

She felt pure nothingness for a moment, which her mind was not used to in the slightest. Then the worst thing that could have happened… All of the images of the previous night's dream came back to her for what seemed like the hundredth time that day, but this time they were clearer than ever as if she were reliving them again. They were very sharp in focus and each scene seemed to last an eternity, Entering Snape's house, Snape kissing her, Snape pushing her against his desk, Snape fucking her brains out… but she couldn't focus on what Snape was doing to her mind, otherwise she would be furious. Wasn't there some law against this?

Finally, after what seemed like forever, she felt him pull out of her mind, perhaps somewhat reluctantly, but she was not concerned with that fact. She was horrified, embarrassed, scared… maybe a little aroused… but mostly angry.

"How dare you enter my mind without permission, you terrible man!" Hermione heard herself yell. She had never in the history of her Hogwarts career yelled at a Professor like this. But she was so overwrought with pure fury and embarrassment that she could not find it in her to contain herself. "Never, ever will I ever allow you to enter my – "

"Would you like me to start the list now?" Snape cut her off.

Against her better judgment, she asked, "What list?"

"The list of reasons why I'm about to take so many house points off of you and give you detention for a month, of course," He hissed at her, keeping his many thoughts and emotions in check while he looked at her. Actually he was not looking at her… more like a spot right above her head.

"I think I'll just leave, thanks," she huffed.

"No, you'll stay, I think." When she sat down looking close to tears, he began.

"10 points off for raising your voice to a professor, 20 points off for this rubbish-filled, lying pile of parchment you call an essay, and of course 30 points off for having inappropriate thoughts about a professor. One month of detentions with me starting tomorrow evening at 8, and of course, a failure for this assignment," he purred, his obsidian eyes glinting.

"Now get out."

She got up as quickly as she possibly could, willing the tears not to come, and ran from the room, not saying a word. She made her way up to her head dormitory, passing Malfoy who was muttering something about Pansy, past the door to her room, which she slammed shut, and fell upon her bed in a great heaving mass. She thought she was going to cry, but her tears would not come. Instead she was frightened and embarrassed and just… confused. What the hell had just happened to her?! She laid there for a good while, staring at her ceiling, before she finally nodded off, homework be damned.

Meanwhile, Snape was lying in his four-poster bed, on top of his silky comforter, stroking himself.

_What was he going to do with Hermione Granger?_


	11. Arse wiggling and Those Kinds of Things

**Chapter Eleven**

**Arse-wiggling and Those kind of Things**

**(A/N -- a huge thank you goes out to all of my reviewers, sorry about the wait! Here we go! Also, I would strongly consider listening to music throughout the 2nd half of this chapter. It gets you in the mood more :) )  
**

The next morning dawned bright and unusually crisp for the first of October. Hermione's alarm went off three times before she finally, unwillingly got out of bed, well aware that she had to face Snape today, even though she didn't have potions. For today would be the beginning of her month's worth of detentions. As she jumped in the shower, she grumbled to herself, thinking about how unfair it all was. She never got detentions; it just was not something that Hermione Granger did. Hermione Granger did her homework and got Outstanding's on everything. Hermione Granger went to class and studied and spent her free time in the library. Hermione Granger did NOT make out with her professor or get a month's worth of detentions for having an illicit dream about a said teacher. And Hermione Granger certainly did not succumb to any "deals" Malfoy suggested. Except now, Hermione found herself doing all of these things and wondering what had happened to her neat little world. She tried not to think of Snape as she got out of the shower.

Meanwhile, Severus Snape was still lying in his four-poster bed, unwilling to get up and go to the dining hall for breakfast. It was not because he was tired from having been up half the night, nor was it even because he did not want to face Granger, should she chose to show up to the dining hall. Nor was it because his black silky sheets were snuggled around him, making him warm and lazy. It was, in fact, because he had woken up with the worst morning wood anyone could possibly imagine, and it was all because of a horrific dream he had had the night before. He thought back…

_When Granger had left the night before, he had practically ran to his study and pulled out his penseive and dragged it into his bedchambers. After quickly changing out of his clothes, he sat down on the edge of his bed and swiftly pulled out the most recent memory that Hermione had given him: the dream. Once the contents swirled around, neither solid nor gas, he cast a charm that would make the penseive's contents fill the room, almost as if he were watching a movie. He laid back in his bed and watched the memory unfold in exquisite detail as he stroked his hard shaft, thinking only about what he watched. Twice, the thought that he was jacking off to a student started to creep into his mind, but he easily pushed the thoughts away and instead went faster as he watched his penseive-self suck on one of Granger's hardened nipples. He got only to the part where she screamed at him to fuck her, when he spasmed uncontrollably, nearly crying with relief as he reached his peak, making quite a mess on his freshly cleaned sheets._

Hermione thought about skipping breakfast, but decided to go anyway, as she need to stop her current train of thought before it got out of control. Plus she wanted to talk to Ginny, though she was still debating on whether to tell her about what happened the previous night with Snape.

Snape, however, did not attend breakfast. In fact, when his 1st class of the day came in, his first years, he struggled out of bed and told them all to get the hell out of the dungeons because today's class was cancelled. They did not need telling twice.

Classes passed and Hermione found herself at dinner, scooping mashed potatoes onto her plate while Ginny began to talk to her.

"Did you hear that Snape cancelled half his classes today?" She implored, reaching over Harry to get a drumstick.

"But why?" Hermione asked, turning pink.

"Dunno… weren't you with him last night? I thought you had Advanced Potions or something," Ginny said, taking a bite of her roll and wiggling her eyebrows.

Hermione mumbled something incoherent and stuffed her mouth full of green beans, looking around furtively. Ginny noticed, but decided to wait to mention it until Harry was out of earshot.

"Alright you guys, I have to get some homework done before my detention tonight" Hermione said, grabbing her bag and standing up.

"What? Why do you have detention?" Harry sputtered. "I thought you were coming to watch the Quidditch game tonight. Gryffindor verses Hufflepuff!"

Hermione sighed, "I'll explain later, I have to get caught up on my homework. See you, and good luck Harry!" She then rushed quickly out into the Great Hall, trying to get away from Ginny's knowing glare.

"Stop right there! Nice try Hermione. You may be able to sneak past Harry with your mumbling, but oh no, not me. Spill," Ginny announced rather loudly, making Hermione inwardly cringe. She turned around and looked at Ginny, who had her arms crossed, tapping her foot impatiently. She weighed her odds and decided it was against her favor to try and lie to Ginny.

"Fine, I'll talk, but not here."

* * *

"Oh Merlin, Hermione…" Ginny started, making her mouth into a perfect 'O'. "I can't believe you had that dream!" She finally exclaimed. She wiggled her eyebrows at Hermione, grinning. "So… How was it?"

"Ginevra Weasley! You ought to be ashamed! I most certainly did not choose to have such… such… well you know. Oh Ginny, what should I do? I have detention with him every night for a month. That means no more Advanced Potions, though I'll be spending enough time with Snape anyway. Oh no! And now Malfoy will tell everyone I'm sleeping with Snape too, since I can't help him with his Transfiguration anymore, because I'll be too busy with detention!" Hermione rambled on.

"What about Malfoy?" Ginny asked. Hermione proceeded to tell her about Malfoy blackmailing her into helping him with his homework.

"Just try to avoid him. Tell him you're busy, maybe he'll just give up," She reasoned.

"Malfoy? Are you kidding me? He would no sooner wish Harry a happy birthday or congratulate him on winning a Quidditch match! Face it, I'm doomed."

"I'm sure we'll think of something," Ginny said, patting her friend on the back. It was all she could do.

Later, Hermione bid Ginny farewell, glad once more that she had someone to talk to about how crazy her life had become. She worked on homework that wasn't due for another week, and at 7:45, made her way to Malfoy's room to tell him she couldn't help him with his Transfiguration, inwardly cringing at what he might do in retaliation.

She knocked, and waited. But, there was no answer.

She knocked again. "Malfoy!" She yelled. There was still no response.

She considered writing him a note, but as it was Malfoy, and she didn't particularly want to talk to him anyway, she just shrugged and left through the portrait hole: destination, the dungeons.

On her way, her mind threatened to spill over with thoughts of how terrible this detention was going to be, how terrible Snape was for giving this detention to her, and how behind she was going to get on all her homework and Head duties because of this month of hell.

Before she knew it, she had arrived at Snape's dungeon door and was knocking, hoping that a repeat of Malfoy's door would happen again and he wouldn't respond. For a moment he did not.

* * *

While the girl was out in the hallway, debating on whether or not to knock, Severus Snape was slouched in his desk chair with a red ink quill in one hand, and an empty glass of brandy in the other. He heard footsteps outside his door, and watched light shadows play across his classroom floor from the small crack under his door that was emitting light in from the hallway. He saw the shadows hesitate, and moments later a muffled knock sounded, echoing in his ears from the brandy, and startling him out of his daze. He watched the light puppets dance for a few more moments, willing them to go away. When they didn't, he straightened himself up, and grudgingly sounded a stern "Enter," setting his empty glass on the floor behind his desk so she would not see it.

He clumsily opened his desk drawer, fumbling around for a new ink bottle, even though there was already one on his tidy desk. He felt his vision blur somewhat and steadied himself on his chair, as he heard his dungeon door open and close quietly.

He looked up at the approaching figure, trying hard for a moment to recognize her. He blinked twice. Granger. A scowl travelled across his face.

"I'm here for detention, Professor Snape," she managed to squeak out, startled by his angry, glossy glare.

"I don't know whether you're expecting me to go easy on you because of your little shenanigans yesterday, but I can assure you, it will not be a pleasant evening, Miss Granger," he said quietly, avoiding her eyes.

After she nodded, he pointed her in the direction of the public classroom storeroom, ordering her merely to "clean up". The room was exceptionally dusty and out of order from just the past month's worth of students filing in and out, getting the ingredients that they needed for their daily potions class.

She sighed and looked back at Snape. She was angry, scared, and at the same time, when she looked at him, her stomach dropped. Her cheeks tinged crimson. She got to work on what looked like was going to take all night. Reluctantly, she got on her hands and knees to reach the bottom shelves first.

Severus Snape sat in his chair with his red quill poised above a third year's essay on the many uses of dragon scales in potion making. He was not, however, grading anything at the moment because his eyes were oddly unfocused on the parchment. His vision meandered along until it found a view of Hermione's backside, half in the air. She was reaching to the back of one of the lowest shelves. He felt his pants tighten uncomfortably and he cursed the brandy. Brandy was without doubt, a bad idea. He scooted closer to his desk so that his legs were completely hidden. How had this happened?

* * *

Hermione felt a stare boring into her back and turned around quickly, looking for the source. However when she looked at Professor Snape, he was dutifully making marks on some innocent's paper. She frowned. _Is he sitting up awfully straight, or is it just my imagination?_

He couldn't focus on anything except that dream and her well-shaped arse wiggling about. Damn that penseive. This is getting to be too much. His life was already bad enough… Why, oh why was this happening to him now?

Hermione felt the stares again but ignored them, blushing once again for why she was stuck cleaning this store closet in the first place.

_That's it._ He had had enough of her bottom-wiggling. Surely she was doing this with the purpose of driving him mad. He shook his head; _more brandy should do the trick…_

Hermione finished with the bottom shelf and moved up the next, she heard the clinking of glass from somewhere in the direction of Snape's desk, but she did not turn around in fear of his retribution.

_Ah, that's better._ That saucy arse-wiggling minx would not get to him. No, sir. '_Oh, and look, now there were two of them,'_ he thought as his vision doubled.

Hermione walked out of the store closet and turned to her left, reaching a cleaning supply cabinet right outside the small storeroom. She got on her tip toes to reach for a clean rag on the top shelf, biting her lip and jumping a little. _Almost got it…_

Severus nearly growled. So she's moved on from arse-wiggling to bosom-shaking, has she? Well two can play at that game… oh, yes.

Oh, no. He staggered to get up. Maybe he couldn't play this game. Maybe it was a better idea if he stayed in his comfortable desk chair and waited until the room stopped spinning like that.

Hermione turned around to see him trip a bit. He looked up at her. He smiled.

Then his smile slipped away into a frown, finally settling on a scowl. "I think it's time you had got to leaving, Miss Granger. You don't want to be late for curfew," He said. His words were like silk.

She paused what she was doing. _Was he drunk? _It suddenly dawned on her_. _He stumbled toward her.

"Miss …" He stepped closer. She could almost feel his breath. Why could she not move?

* * *

"Granger…" Her back pressed against the safety cabinet. His body pushed against her front. Her breath became stuck in her throat. Why was she suddenly in this situation? Her thought process was strangely foggy all of the sudden, and this all felt very familiar.

"I think you should get out, now," He whispered in her ear, pressing in on her small frame with his weight. Certainly he could feel her heart beating; she could almost hear it. Some part of her knew this was wrong, wrong, wrong. But another, deeper part of her screamed and flashed images of her 'pleasant' potion-induced dream of Snape railing her…

"I…I…" She stuttered.

"I strongly advise you leave, right this moment," his arms came up on either sides of her, pressing against the wall and caging her in.

"I…" Everything seemed so surreal; their minds fuzzy from varying things.

And a knock sounded on the door. They both turned their heads to look at the offending noise. He hesitated, but she didn't waste a moment, reaching in her pocket for her wand, leaning around Snape's body and calling out a locking charm and a silencing charm at the classroom door. He turned his head back to look at her sheepish grin. One corner of his mouth curved upward momentarily before he leaned in, to claim her lips.


	12. The Good Side of Drinking

**Chapter Twelve**

**The Good Side of Drinking**

**(A/N -- Thanks so much to those of you who reviewed, It means a lot to me and I'm glad you liked it! Hopefully this chapter will be one that will clear some things up! Enjoy ********)**

* * *

Despite Ginny's constant drabble about how _'when you kiss someone, really kiss them, your mind goes blank and your stomach fills with butterflies and everything is just perfect'_, Hermione's mind filled with a million thoughts at once. .

_Oh Merlin, I'm kissing a teacher. I'm kissing Snape. Again. Who is that at the door I wonder? Oh, his mouth. Definitely tastes like liquor, yes. I should stop. And now his hips are pushing, harder…_ And her mind finally went blissfully blank as he ground his hips against her and moved his lips' attention to her neck.

'_She's far too short,'_ he thought absentmindedly, pulling his arms from her and placing them underneath her bottom, which had thankfully stopped wiggling, distracting him from his teacherly duties. Which reminded him, the young witch he had in his grasp was indeed his student. He pondered this only briefly before lifting her up by her arse, pressing her harder into the wall behind her, making her cry out and wrap her legs around his waist. _Was it abnormally hot in here? How many layers of clothes am I wearing? This robe needs to go._

He ceased his ministrations on her neck temporarily to relieve himself of his robe which was making everything stiflingly hot and was distracting him from… things.

Hermione sighed at the loss of contact, taking a moment to breathe, which she seemed to have forgotten to do for the past five minutes. She looked to her left, seeing the door to her unfinished store closet, that was certainly almost as dirty now as it was when she came in for detention. She looked to her right and was startled to see a flash of bright green come underneath Snape's door that led to his private area.

"Pr-Professor, I think someone just flooed into your room," she sputtered out, suddenly nervous all over again.

"Quiet, girl. That's nonsense. No one in their right mind would floo into my private room without telling me they were to do so first," He said indignantly, finally getting his robe off, throwing it on the floor.

* * *

"No really, sir, I really think there is someone in…" she started again.

"Girl, I'm telling you that there is no one there!" he breathed out.

"Severus? Are you here?" a voice came from his private chambers and he started_. Damn._ He looked at Hermione who was still sandwiched between the wall and himself, long legs still wrapped around his hips, her lips red and swollen.

"Shit," he muttered, quickly untangling himself from her grasp and looking around for his robe. His vision was still very blurry and his head was swimming.

"Severus? Are you there?" called the voice again.

"Yes, Albus, I'm here. I'll be there in just a moment," Severus said, trying to think of all the things that he would get in trouble for as soon as the Headmaster walked into the room.

But he did not have time to put on his robe, get into his store cupboard to get a vial of sobering potion, or even to tell Hermione that she needed to hide before Albus Dumbledore opened the door that separated his private rooms to his classroom, and strode in.

"Severus, I knocked on your door a moment ago but you didn't answer. I thought something might have happened," Dumbledore said, smiling.

"And why would you, er, think that, Albus?" Snape said uneasily, looking around for Hermione, who was nowhere to be found. He put on his robe, finally, and clumsily, trying to focus on the old man that stood before him.

"Well, that is why I came, Severus old boy. There has been a… disturbance, you might say. Are you feeling well? You look a bit off, "He implored, looking closer at Severus Snape through his half-moon spectacles, examining. Snape looked away, because he was already wholly uncomfortable with the man being here under the present circumstances.

"I'm fine, Albus. Can we talk about this later? I am far behind on my grading and --," he began, only to be cut off once again.

"It will only take just a minute. It's about the Malfoy's. I want you to excuse young Draco Malfoy from classes until otherwise specified. He is with his mother in a safe house that I set up, especially for them. It seems that Lucius has gone a bit… funny since Voldemort's death. It's a real wonder how he escaped Azkaban, but I suppose that is not in my jurisdiction now is it?"

Dumbledore rambled on for a few more minutes about the where's and the how's but Severus could hardly pay attention anymore; he was far too drunk. He would be sure to ask Albus later when he was a little bit more sober, but now was not the time for this talk.

* * *

_Where was Granger, by the way?_

"Do you understand, Severus?" _What?_

"Yes, Headmaster. And if I have any questions about Draco Malfoy or if I see Lucius, I will be sure to let you know as soon as possible," Snape said, trying to sound as vague as possible while also trying to keep his words from slurring together. His tongue kept sticking to the roof of his mouth.

"Okay, I will see you at breakfast tomorrow morning. And, Severus? Get some sleep. Your eyes look a bit bloodshot," Albus said, his knowing eyes twinkling behind his spectacles. He turned around, midnight blue robes sparkling with silver stars and walked to Snape's fireplace and floo'd back to the Headmaster's quarters to get some much needed rest.

Snape let out a huge breath that he did not know he had been holding.

"Granger! Where are you?" He called out, feeling foolish that he had lost the girl not once or twice, but three times now in his own chambers.

He was about to call for her again when he heard shuffling from behind him and saw her coming out of the store cupboard that she was supposed to be cleaning in the first place.

"Professor," she said in a meek voice, nodding her head at him, her lips pressed tightly together. Everything about this whole situation had just gotten a lot more awkward all of the sudden. Everything that had been okay ten minutes ago was just not okay anymore.

_Making out with a professor, again, Hermione? Really?_

And then he felt the awkwardness creep into him, though it was suppressed by the flow of alcohol in his veins. _Something really was wrong with this whole situation, wasn't it?_

"I guess it's probably a good idea if I, uh, go," he heard her say, but he was already walking in the direction of his personal chambers, ready to escape this hell of a day through many hours of sleep, dreamless sleep potion, and perhaps only a few weeks of therapy if he was lucky. He heard her say something else but her words fell on deaf ears as he entered his study and closed the door, drowning her out. He signed from behind the door – what the hell had he been thinking?

* * *

She tried to ask him if she should still come to detention the following evening, but he just turned around and walked away, completely ignoring her and leaving her to stand in the middle of the classroom, bewildered. She turned to walk out of the room, closing the door lightly and making the long trek back to her head's dorm where she no longer had to worry about running into Malfoy since she knew he was with his mother, wherever that was. She said the password 

and climbed the staircase to her room, flopping down on the bed without changing into her nightwear. She opened the drawer to her nightstand and pulled out a bottle of dreamless sleep potion and drank its entire contents. She sighed from on top of her duvet – what the hell had she been thinking?

* * *

The next day, Hermione went through her day, meals, and classes trying desperately not to think about what took place the night before, as well as avoiding Ginny's incessant interrogation.

"Hermione, what happened last night?"

"Hermione, why do you look so disheveled?"

"Hermione is that a hickey on your neck?"

"Hermione, did you do the naughty with Snape?"

Even Harry was asking her what was wrong, constantly trying to pry it out of her: he was definitely back to his old self. It was all becoming too much, and she noticed that she had started biting her lips again, successfully bringing about a few scabs by the time she grudgingly made her way towards Snape's dungeon for her second detention. She wasn't even sure if he wanted her there after their… shenanigans. She kept her mind as blank as she could as she knocked on his door. At first she thought he would not answer, but when he did, she wished he had not.

He ripped open the door and looked her straight in the earlobe as he spoke.

"Your detentions are cancelled, Miss Granger, indefinitely. If for some reason you feel as though this is unfair and you would like further punishment, you can take it up with the headmaster. You will not be taking any more advanced potions because I have cancelled the class. If it were entirely up to me, I would have you thrown out of my regular potions class, but unfortunately I cannot do as such. Any questions?" It was a rhetorical question, obviously, since he did not wait for her response, and merely slammed the door in her face, leaving her momentarily stunned.

She felt a strange feeling bubble up from inside her throat that felt suspiciously like sadness, though she would not examine her thoughts further, for it was dangerous grounds. She swallowed the lump in her throat and made her way to the library to catch up on some homework.

* * *

Snape had panicked. What else was he to do, besides throw her out of his room and out of his sight? If he hadn't done that, he would have kissed her senseless, this time dragging her into his bedchambers and who knows what would have come of that?

* * *

He waited on the other side of the door and listened to her footsteps die away before he went back to his study.

Meanwhile, Ginny was in the Gryffindor dormitory with Harry, having him help her with her Herbology homework.

"I just don't get it. Why would anyone want to crossbreed Fanged Geraniums with Alihotsy? It says right here that Alihotsy causes hysteria," Ginny huffed, scribbling out a section of her parchment and rubbing her temples.

"I really don't know Ginny, I was never really very attentive in Herbology. I'm not even taking it this year, luckily," Harry said, looking legitimately apologetic that he could not help.

Neville Longbottom suddenly appeared out of nowhere, eating a pumpkin pasty that he must have snatched from the kitchens after dinner. "Actually Ginny, it's only the leaves that cause hysteria. It says it almost word for word in _Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them__. _I thought everyone knew that," he said, taking another large bite of his pasty. "Don't feel bad, it's actually the second most commonly made mistake in Herbology; Professor Sprout told me."

"Oh, thanks Neville. What's the most common mistake?" Ginny asked, though she was not truly that interested.

Neville, however, was very interested. "Well, people get really confused between Flitterbloom and Devil's Snare. Of course, I'd much rather come in contact with some Flitterbloom than –"

But Neville was cut off by Lavender and Parvati Patil, who had come over to see Ginny.

"Hey Ginny, could we talk to you for a sec?" Lavender asked sweetly, slightly annoying Ginny. She was a nice girl but she had an oddly high-pitched voice that rubbed Ginny's ears the wrong way.

"Sure, Lavender. Sorry Neville, I'll talk to you more about this later. Harry, I'll probably be back in a bit. Thanks, both of you, for trying to help me with this stupid paper," Ginny said, waving to both of them and walked away towards the girls dormitories with Lavender and Parvati in the lead.

Once they were away from everyone, Parvati spoke up first. "Hey Ginny, we've noticed that Hermione kind of looks down lately. What's up with her?" She asked, looking ditzy but curious.

Ginny considered her question before answering, "No offense guys, but neither of you were ever really that good of friends with her, were you? I don't really know why you guys care all of the sudden. I mean it's nice that you care and all, but…"

* * *

"Well, mainly it's her hair that we were concerned with –" Lavender began.

"Lavender! Actually, Ginny, we were just curious because she is a Gryffindor, after all, and we don't want her to be so –" Parvati said.

"Now, Parvati, that's not really true either, now is it? Okay, the truth is there haven't really been any parties lately around here, and _some_ people," she gave Parvati a look, "Don't know how to control themselves around boys."

Parvati looked at her and squinted her eyes, "Oh please, you're the one that –"

"Guys! Hello? Can we just get to the point? I have homework to do, you know?" Ginny said, effectively cutting off their tirade of nonsense.

"Oh, well we were just wondering if, you know –" Lavender said.

"You'd want to like –" Parvati continued.

"Have a girls night. Me, Parvati, you, Hermione, and whoever else you would like, want to invite or whatever," Lavender said, looking back and forth between Ginny and Parvati.

"Yeah, it would be like totally fun. What do you think Ginny? Seriously, don't you think Hermione needs a little fun?" Parvati asked, giving her best puppy-dog look.

"Well, I don't know..." Ginny said, quite skeptical at their motives already.

"Please?" The patil twins begged in unison.

Ginny considered their proposal. Although they were both kind of ditzy, and quite possibly only wanted to give everyone at the party makeovers, the prospect of a party sounded fun and she could sure use one. Hermione could use a party a lot more than she could, and it would help loosen her up.

"Yeah, okay. It sounds like fun. I'll talk to Hermione about it and if she's okay with it, maybe we could have it in the Head's dormitory so there wouldn't be so many people around," Ginny told them. "I have to get back to my homework now, but I'll come get you tomorrow evening and let you know what Hermione says. Tomorrow is Friday night, so we'll be able to stay up all night and not worry about classes the next day too."

"Yes! I told you she'd say 'yes', Parvati. Parrrrrtyyyy! We'll be sure to get some of the party supplies together by tomorrow night!" Lavender squealed, and both of them went off giggling.

'_Actually, now that I think about it, maybe she would loosen up enough to tell me about her and Snape's detention session. And I know just the thing that would help with that…'_ Ginny thought, 

leaving the girls dormitory and making her way back to where Harry was still sitting, working on his homework.

She came up by him and sat down, turning to look at him. "Harry, I have a favor to ask of you."

"Yeah, sure, what is it?" Harry asked.

"Could you get me two bottles of Fire Whiskey and some Butterbeer by tomorrow night?"


	13. Don't Hate the Player, Hate the Game

**Chapter Thirteen**

**Don't Hate the Player, Hate the Game**

**(A/N -- Thanks so much to those of you who reviewed, It means a lot to me and I'm glad you liked it! Enjoy ******** and review!! Thanks for those of you who read my announcement too, I'm sooo glad you let me know what you thought, even if it was bad. My reviewers mean everything to me!! This chapter is a little longer than normal, but it's really funny (I think). **

**Here's a hint for the next chapter – it's R rated :P))**

* * *

The following morning dawned crisp and cool, but sunny and promising; especially since it was a Friday and the weekend was quickly approaching. Hermione made her way down to breakfast, noticing on her way out the continuing absence of Draco Malfoy in the Head's dormitory.

Hermione sat down beside Ginny and across from Harry and Neville at the long Gryffindor table and helped herself to some scrambled eggs and toast. She was spreading strawberry marmalade on her toast when Ginny turned to her.

"Hermione, I know that something is going on with you, and I understand that you may not want to tell me what's going on. But, you've kind of been pulling away from everyone again," Ginny began, trying to lead in to the party conversation.

"I'm sorry Ginny, I know I've been really spacey and I've been kind of avoiding everyone. I've just been really stressed because of school and stuff," Hermione apologized, putting down her fork and wiping the corners of her mouth.

"It's okay Hermione, but I know a way you can make it up to me," She said, smiling and wiggling her eyebrows at her.

"How?" Hermione asked, already suspicious of Ginny's motives. Every time the redhead's eyebrows wiggled up and down, she was definitely up to something.

"Well, I was talking to some of the girls in Gryffindor tower last night, and they thought it might be a good idea if you loosened up a little bit; had a little fun, you know?"

"What do you mean, 'a little fun', Ginny?" Hermione asked.

"Well, Lavender, Parvati, and I thought maybe we could," Ginny began.

"Lavender and Parvati?" Hermione asked, looking around the breakfast table for the two in question, but they were nowhere to be seen.

"We thought we could have a little girls night; a party," Ginny finished quickly, hope shining in her eyes.

"Now Ginny, I don't know if that's such a good idea. Especially with Lavender and Parvati as your cohorts…" Hermione started, already not liking this idea.

But Harry stopped stuffing his face momentarily to join in on the conversation, "Wait, Ginny… Is that the reason why you asked me to get all that –"

"Harry! Aren't you late for Quidditch practice?" Ginny cut in, giving him her worst look and pursing her lips.

"What? I don't have practice until – Ow!" Harry yelped when Ginny kicked him from under the table.

"So, what do you say Hermione? Just a little quiet get together tonight with just us four?" Ginny asked her, ignoring Harry's cries of pain.

Hermione looked skeptical for a long moment, but after considering her proposition, she felt as though she not only hadn't an excuse, but she realized that it actually sounded kind of fun. "Sure, Ginny, I guess a small get together wouldn't hurt."

"Yes! Would you care if we had it in the Head's dormitory? So that none of the Gryffindor boys can wander in and cause a ruckus," Ginny said, once again ignoring Harry's cry of protest that he never causes a ruckus.

"Sure, that sounds fine. Actually, that would work out perfectly," Hermione said, remembering that Malfoy was missing in action.

"Great!" Ginny squealed, wondering if she was going to convince Hermione to drink tonight.

They ate the rest of their meal while Hermione told both of them very quietly about what she heard about Malfoy. Towards the end of breakfast, a notion dawned on Ginny.

"Hey Hermione, I was just thinking about the whole Malfoy thing, and I wondered… how did you hear about this again? Dumbledore? Where were you?" Ginny asked, knowing that she had had detention with Snape the night before and had conveniently left out all the details.

Hermione's eyes widened briefly out of reflex for a short moment, and then she caught herself, albeit rather badly. "Erm, I'll have to talk about this some other time. I have double transfiguration with Mcgonagall, can't be late you know! Oh, and I have to go to the library during lunch today to work on some homework, so I'll see you at dinner," And Hermione stood up quickly, grabbed her bag and a piece of dry toast and sped out of the dining hall.

"What's with her?" Harry asked, but Ginny didn't answer, she merely planned and plotted for the night ahead.

* * *

Dinner came and went and Hermione managed to ignore Ginny's peppering of questions throughout dinner. They were vague so that Harry wouldn't notice, but they were plain enough to Hermione that she had to give Ginny "the look" on more than one occasion. Finally, the many deserts on the table disappeared and all three of them stood up to leave. Hermione and Ginny bid Harry goodbye and walked together towards Hermione dormitory.

"You're going to have so much fun tonight Hermione, I just know it!" Ginny said once they were safely inside. Hermione half-heartedly agreed and headed off to the bathroom before Lavender and Parvati showed up. She was struggling to stop thinking about a certain older man.

Ginny unzipped the knapsack she had brought to dinner and carried here and took out the two nail-sized bottles of Odgen's Fire Whiskey and the tony container of Butterbeer and placed them on the table.

"Engorgio," Ginny muttered, making the bottles to reach their full size and reaching in her bag for the rest of the supplies to set on the table. Hermione returned from the bathroom and saw Ginny conjuring up four glasses and some juice, but had no time to begin her protests because there was a rather loud knocking on the portrait.

"I'll deal with _those _in a minute, Ginny," Hermione said eyeing the bottles of alcohol resting on the coffee table between the couch and the fireplace. She made her way over to the portrait hole and it opened revealing Parvati and Lavender carrying two more bottles of some strangely florescent alcohol.

"Could you maybe keep those concealed, you two? I can't believe you didn't even have the sense to put those in some type of –"

"Oh Hermione, it'll be fine. And obviously these are just what you need to have the time of your life!" It sounded as though Lavender had already had a bit to drink, but maybe Hermione was mistaken.

Parvati sat down on the floor next to the coffee table while Lavender opened up a satchel she was carrying and emptied its contents.

"What's all that?" Ginny and Hermione asked at the same time. Hermione seemed to have realized that no amount of protesting could detour any of these girls right now, so she decided to keep quiet.

"Well, we decided that just sitting in here drinking wouldn't be much fun so we brought a little game," Lavender said, separating what looked to be thick gold bracelets into four separate piles. She also put one shiny white bracelet on top of each pile of three gold bracelets.

"What kind of game?" Hermione asked, eyeing the bracelets. Parvati had already put her three gold bangles on her left wrist and the white one on her right wrist. Ginny and Lavender were copying her.

Before Hermione got her answer, however, Lavender had nodded at Parvati and she grabbed the Hermione's remaining pile of bracelets and slipped the three gold ones on her left wrist.

"What are these?!" Hermione yelped, trying to pull them off. They would not budge. She struggled for another minute before angrily sitting back in a huff, glaring at Parvati.

"Now that THAT is settled… I'll tell you what the game is. Sorry Hermione, but we knew you wouldn't play if we told you," Lavender didn't look a bit apologetic, and turned back to everyone.

"This is called 'Which Witch'. It's basically like muggle truth or dare, except with a few magical exceptions. The three gold bangles you all have on your left wrist cannot come off until you complete a truth or a dare. The white bangle you have on your right wrist, Hermione you might want to put yours on, is your 'chicken'. Basically, if you choose not to answer your truth or complete your dare, you can use your chicken, and you are passed. You can only use this once," Lavender explained, handing Hermione her chicken bracelet, which she reluctantly put on since the other gold bangles were already stuck on her wrist.

"And if I refuse to play?" Hermione asked, already knowing that magical games like these always had repercussions of not playing.

"You start to itch, everywhere. So, Hermione, I would strongly suggest you just give in," Parvati piped up, smiling.

"We all take turns, and since each of us have three gold bracelets, each of us will be asked only once by every other person playing the game. We're going to spice it up a little and make it so everyone has to take shot after each of their turns and one at the beginning. Does everyone understand how to play?" Lavender asked, filling each of their glasses while she spoke.

Everyone nodded in understanding and took a glass. Hermione was nervous, but she supposed if everyone tried to be at least a little sensible, the game wouldn't be too bad. It could even be fun. Maybe.

"I can't believe you're actually going to drink of your own free will, Hermione," Ginny said giggling.

Hermione swirled the clear liquid around in her glass, "I figure if I'm going to play this game, I'm probably about to endure some potential embarrassment and I would rather be able to use the excuse that I was drunk, or if I'm lucky not remember any of it at all." Everyone laughed.

"On that wonderful note, bottoms up everyone!" Lavender called out and they all clinked glasses and gulped down the burning fluid.

Hermione and Ginny both sputtered, neither having the drinking experience that both lavender and Parvati had. The Fire Whiskey burned as soon as it touched their lips and all the way down their throats but it tasted decent. It was a strange combination, and neither was quite sure what to think of it.

"Okay, I'll go first," Lavender said looking around and finally resting her eyes on Ginny. "Okay, Ginny! Truth or dare?"

"Truth," Ginny said, staying cautious at first.

"If you could shag any teacher, present or past, who would it be?" Lavender asked coyly.

She felt the urge to lie out of instinct but the charm on the bracelets acted as a kind of veriterserum.

"Remus Lupin," She said, her face turning bright red. Laughter erupted.

"You guys can't tell anyone that!" Ginny squeeled, but she was laughing too.

"Don't worry Ginny, this game acts like a kind of spell; none of us can talk about what goes on here, no matter what. We can talk amongst ourselves but that's it," Lavender explained.

"Unfortunately," Parvati mumbled.

"Okay, now it's my turn," Ginny Said, eyeing her victim. "Parvati, truth or dare?"

"Dare!" Parvati said excitedly.

"I dare you to recite the school song, on top of the coffee table, in only your knickers!" Ginny said giggling like mad.

Parvati immediately began to strip and then leaned forward to pour herself a shot. She took that one and then poured herself another before climbing clumsily onto the table, drink in hand. She was obviously a cheap drunk, because she was already slurring her words. She sang terribly, but she was a source of great entertainment. She danced about and generally made a fool out of herself all the way until the end of the song. She raised her glass in the air and saluted.

"To us!" she yelled and downed the liquid at the same time as the other girls. Hermione poured herself a double, because she knew she could very well be next in line for the game. Parvati climbed down from her perch and put on her shirt, neglecting to retrieve her pants.

"My turn!" Parvati yelled." Okay, Hermione! Truth or dare?"

"Uh, dare! No, no wait… Truth!" Hermione sputtered, feeling a rush of warmth to her face.

"Too late, Hermione, you already chose dare. I dare you… to get completely starkers and leave the dormitory and run all the way down the hall and back!" Parvati said, making Hermione gasp and Lavender squeal with delight.

"Oh my gosh, I can' do that! Anyone could see me!" Hermione said in a squeaky voice, petrified.

"Doesn't matter Hermione, you have to do it! Unless you want to use your chicken bracelet, that is," Parvati said triumphantly.

"I can't do this! That is ridiculous," Hermione said. "I have to take a chicken," and her white bangle dissolved into nothing before all their eyes.

"Aw, no fun," Parvati and Lavender said simultaneously. But the game continued for well over an hour.

This, of course, resulted in many things, most obviously a room full of girls who were quite plainly drunk. Lavender used her chicken when Ginny dared her to go to the Gryffindor common room and snog Neville Longbottom. Parvati used hers when Hermione dared her to put cabbage under her shirt and go to Madam Pomphrey and tell her that she was pregnant. Ginny managed not to use her chicken at all.

Hermione tried to back out of her next turn, but she had already used her chicken and therefore had to complete it.

"Hermione," Parvati began, " Truth or dare?"

"Truth," Hermione said immediately, not willing to subject herself to another dare quite yet.

"Who do you have a crush on?"

"Snape!" Hermione said louder than she meant to, then clapped her hand over her mouth.

"WHAT?" Lavender and Parvati nearly screamed. "You have a crush on WHO?"

"Could someone hand me that bottle of that Green Gremlin?" Hermione asked, her whole body red from embarrassment, " I think I need something a little bit hic stronger than the Fire Whiskey all of the sudden."

And the game went on. They began to find out more about each other than they ever thought they would, or wanted to.

If Ginny could see any student in Hogwarts naked, she would chose Draco Malfoy. Lavender has, unabashedly, shagged twelve boys. Parvati made out with Pansy Parkinson's Slytherin boyfriend last week. She also does a mean impression of Mcgonagall.

Finally, it came down to the last turn, Hermione's.

"Herm-i-oh-nee," Ginny slurred thickly. "Last hic turn. Truth or Dare?"

"Oh, what the hic hell. Dare!" Hermione said, waving a bottle of Green Gremlin around dangerously close to Lavenders face.

"Okay, okay. I've got it. Brilliant. Herm-Herm-ine," Ginny giggled, "I dare you to go to Professor Snape's room and kiss him for at least thirty seconds!"

Hermione was dumbstruck and merely sat where she was for a full minute before she started to feel her entire body starting to itch. The longer she sat there, the worse it became.

"Okay, I'll do it!" She yelled, immediately ceasing the itchiness. "But, I'll have you all know… hic that I hate each and every one of you for this." She walked towards the portrait hole and looked back at the three girls who were looking at her with wide eyes before they burst out laughing.

"Hermione's going to shag S-Snape!" Parvati yelled.

"I just might," Hermione muttered and stepped through the portrait hole.

* * *

**(A/N- sorry I cut it off here, but I haven't updated in like 5 days or so and I wanted you to at least have this part! I promise I'll get the next chapter up within the week so you can all read the good stuff :P Review :)**


	14. The Last Golden Bracelet

**Chapter Fourteen **

**The Last Golden Bracelet**

**(A/N -- I'm updating really quickly because I know that you guys would be really mad if I waited for ever to update this part!! This is my first time writing this kind of stuff, so I hope you all like it! Thanks to all of you who reviewed, it means a lot to me. Special thanks goes out to KPAR for reviewing so much and also to Sampdoria for such a long review! Thanks :) I actually wait for a certain number of reviews until I update (hint :P). NOTE: THIS CHAPTER IS RATED R! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED! Now, enjoy :)****)**

* * *

It seemed as though she had merely blinked after she left the head's dormitory that she was once again facing her dreaded potions professor's dungeon door. The lines on the warped wood mesmerized her for a moment because as she watched them, they seemed to melt together and curl and straighten.

'_Gods, I am drunk,' _she thought to herself. She gathered up her courage and knocked on the door. The knocks weren't loud but they echoed strangely around her.

She stood as still as her swaying body would allow until she heard heavy footsteps from beyond the doorway. Her breath hitched in her throat as she heard a lock click out of place and saw the doorknob turn slowly. She felt as if everything had suddenly clicked into slow motion.

'_I can do this,'_ Hermione thought, fingering the only gold bracelet left on her wrist. It still sparkled in the dull lighting of the dungeons, reminding her of what she was here for.

The door opened and she had to blink several times to clear her muddled thoughts. His tall form towered above her lean frame, making her feel wildly for one moment that she were about to face another giant mountain troll from back in her first year.

"Miss Granger," he said, his lip curling up into a sneer, "I thought I was quite clear when I told you before --"

But she wasn't listening to him. All she could focus on was the way he licked his lips before he spoke. The way he said her name. His words were like silk, no matter their meaning. And those lips; that tongue…

"Miss Granger, what do you think you're looking at? What are you doing?" Snape asked, his eyes darkening.

"I just," she began, but could not find the words to finish her thought. And her resolve was weakening the longer she stood there, and her knees had locked up and her speech had completely abandoned her. But she wanted this so bad, she wanted him; to taste every single place on his body.

Something in her broke then and she realized that she would not; could not leave there tonight without completing her dare. She slid past him and closed the door behind her, startling her professor into releasing the death grip he had on the door. His knuckles were white.

He turned around, ready to begin berating her for breaking and entering into a superior's room, but was stopped cold when he saw the look in her eyes… her lips were wet from her tongue and her eyes were wide and alluring. There was no ignoring the lust that radiated from the child, though his mind could hardly wrap around the concept. He could not find the words to tell her to get out; to get out now.

She was leaning forward now, on her tip-toes.

He felt his breathe hitch.

She was close enough that he could feel her breath on his cheek.

He felt his pants tighten uncomfortably. _'Is this really happening again?'_ he wondered silently.

And then he felt her lips graze his and something inside him broke, too.

His arms wrapped around hers and he pressed against her warm body. Heat was radiating off of her and she smelled exotic. He sense the liquor on her breath but there was nothing he could do to stop now, especially now that she had begun to undo some of the buttons on his shirt… _'Ahhh…' _he sighed.

He tasted like a god; like spice and mint and musk. She loved that his hair hung down like a dark curtain around their faces when they kissed. She loved that his hand was drifting farther down her back… lower…

"So firm," he muttered, squeezing her backside and making her giggle. He ground his hips into hers making her moan, catching her off guard.

"Oh!" she said, her knees were beginning to buckle from under all the lust.

He picked her up around her bum and she nipped at his neck while he carried her through his classroom, study, and bedroom. He threw her to the be making her gasp and bounce across the comforter.

"Pro-professor, I," the girl began, but she was stopped when he threw off his robe and slipped off his boots and nearly jumped on her.

'_Oh gods, her smell,'_ he signed inwardly, inhaling her scent.

He gasped when she began to kiss his chest, lightly licking and biting at a nipple as she passed it. His arms were feeling weaker by the second so he laid himself next to her. She rolled on top of him and continued her focus on his chest.

"Lift up your arms, girl," he said gruffly.

She unconsciously obeyed, sighing at the loss of contact when he lifted her shirt above her head and threw it behind her. He wasted no time in ogling her torso, her breasts, and her shoulders. _'The bra would not do,'_ he thought.

She gasped out loud, her vision and her world getting turned upside down when she felt the cool air in his bedroom play at her nipples. She felt them grow hard right before Severus took one in his mouth.

He hardly winced when she dug her nails into his back when he bit at each one of her peaks. He was already so hard and his pants were getting far too tight and far too hot.

She felt something hard brush her thigh and she tensed up and felt a rush of warmth in her loins. She immediately went to his belt buckle and began undoing it, nearly shaking in anticipation. He started on her jeans. He slid off her pink knickers at the same time that he slid the pants off. She was having difficulty with his trousers and he wondered if it was due to how intoxicated she was, or inexperience. Either way, he helped her with them as well.

She tugged at his tented boxers, asking him without words to take those off too, and she smiled shyly as she did it.

"Girl…" he growled at her when she stroked the tip with her tumb from outside his silky black boxers.

And it was then that he realized that it was his student, naked, underneath him; pinned beneath his legs, touching his hardened cock. It was not only his student, but the top of her class, Hermione Granger. Hermione Granger had amazing boobs that no one knew about! Hermione Granger's nipples were tan in color and hard, for him. Hermione Granger's hand was now grasping his cock…

She tugged on his boxers again and he obliged, sliding them off and throwing them to the floor with the rest of their forgotten clothing.

"Wow," she said, "Give." He was surprised that she was a person of such few words during sexual experiences when she was such a loud mouth during class.

He watched her eyes widen and his dick twitched. She let her mouth open while she gazed, making him forget that she was his student entirely. He wanted to fill that hole that was gaping open.

In all the years she had talked and recited phrases from books during class, he had wanted to shut her smart little mouth. And now he had the chance.

"Take it," he demanded, leaning forward on top of her.

She slid down the bed on her back underneath him and grabbed his hard shaft. She felt him shudder under her grasp. She licked the top, around and around, before surprising him by sliding it between her lips and grazing her teeth. In. Out.

He nearly fainted. It had been so long since he had felt… felt this. And she was so willing. He reached his arm back and slid his hand up her thigh. He heard a small pop and felt himself leave her warm mouth. He slid one long finger inside her to find her soaking wet, and so tight. She let out the most delicious whimper he had ever heard. A whimper that, before now, he would have never dreamed the Head Girl capable of.

"So tight," he breathed, sliding his finder in and out of her. She was moaning and it was making it increasingly hard to remain in control. He pushed another finger slowly into her folds and she tightened around him.

"Stop your moaning, girl, or you'll regret it," he growled, his eyes flashing waves of lust towards her.

"Please," she surprised him again by saying. He pulled under both her arms and lifted her up on the bed so that she was eye level. The room was dim, but he could still see her lick her lips in anticipation.

"Please, what Miss Granger?" He asked positioning himself at her heat, sliding the tip across her folds, teasing her. Her eyes fluttered closed.

"Please Professor Snape," she said breathlessly, "Fuck me."

He growled. Just hearing her know-it-all little mouth call him Professor right now, when he had her writhing beneath him… Her chest was falling up and down mesmerizing him.

"Very good," he leaned down and roughly bit her nipple while simultaneously slamming himself into her, completely sheathing himself inside her heat. She cried out and he groaned at the feeling.

"So good," he mumbled while letting her get accustomed to his size.

She was practically incoherent at this point. The alcohol, her professor was inside her… No full thoughts would form, only that he was moving inside her now and she felt her breasts go up and down. She wondered vaguely if he liked it.

He did like it. He was alternating between focusing on being inside her and watching her breasts move every time he slammed into her. There was no hope of him being gentle with her. She was too good, too tight, and too soft for him to retain any form of control. She moaned as he went faster.

"Oh, Professor!"

And he was thrown over the edge when she wrapped her legs around his hips and her arm around his neck and brought him forward in a kiss. He was as deep as he could possibly be, and closer to her than he had imagined he would ever be. It was mind blowing and he could not wait any longer for his salvation. He slid in and out of her a few more times and roughly grabbed one of her breasts. She felt a jolt to her clit and she rode out the feeling.

He exploded within her at the same time she felt her release. They both saw stars for what felt like minutes. He collapsed beside her, out of breath and basking in the afterglow of his orgasm.

Hermione lay beside him, he was still half inside her. Her mind was blissfully blank as she struggled to breathe normally again. She vaguely noticed her last golden bangle disappear from her wrist. She was so sleepy now…

He turned to her and opened his mouth to speak but saw that she had her eyes closed and was curled on her side. She looked so peaceful and was almost asleep. He considered waking her and telling her that it was time to go back to her dormitory, but he could not make himself push her out.

Instead, he covered them both in a black sheet and curled up next to her. She shifted unconsciously in her sleep to fit to the mold of his body against hers. He sighed, knowing that so much about this moment was wrong. But, he knew that it felt much too good to end it right now. So, he draped his arm over her sleeping form and shut his eyes, willing himself not to get riled up again because her naked body was still pressed against his.

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**(A/N - I hope you all liked it! Naughty, Naughty! :P REVIEW :))**

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	15. Proclamations

**Chapter Fifteen**

**Proclamations**

**(A/N -- SORRY SORRY SORRY for the long wait. My computer cord broke on my laptop which meant that I couldn't charge it and when the battery got low enough I couldn't turn it on and I don't have another copy of these chapters-in-progress anywhere but my laptop. I finally went to best buy and bought another one. Thanks to everyone that reviewed. TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK!! Read and review xoxo)**

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Severus Snape awoke startled for several reasons. For one, he usually never slept with any kind of covering on him, and now there were black sheets draped over his body. More noticeably, his usually empty bed now had another occupant in it who at the moment was pressing her backside into his crotch. Now that he was more awake, he became less startled and more aroused. Even the mere thought of having a student in his bed, naked, at this hour was remarkably exciting to him.

Snape was not the typical "cradle-robber" and did not usually (or ever) go for women more than half his age. Actually, Severus Snape did not typically go for any women at all being that he was petrified of rejection. Severus loved to be in control in all aspects of his life, which is why he despised every inch of his exsistance when he had become a death eater. He ruled his classroom with a firm hand and he did not like to be turned down or proved wrong. The willingness of the young student in his bed excited him and aroused him more than he thought possible. The thrill of getting caught and the lust he felt when she even looked his way was enough to continue this affair. Hell, she wasn't even looking at him now and he was already rock hard. And yet… there was something more to her, to them. But he didn't want to analyze the situation for once, he just wanted to live for the moment

"Miss Granger," He whispered into her ear, sliding his hands down her waist.

Hermione was still half asleep when she replied, "Yes, sir?" His lips curled upwards at her response.

"While I appreciate your courtesy, Miss Granger, you can spare me with the formalities," He said derisively. Hermione snorted at his comment and ground her hips into his groin slightly as if to indicate she knew better than him.

"But I like calling you Sir, _Sir,_" She said silkily.

"Well, then, I believe I will need to teach you about the importance of respecting your superior's wishes. Things could go very wrong if you disrespect my wishes, Miss Granger." He said, clearly enjoying being in charge. Hermione felt a pool of heat settle in her lower stomach and she 

stifled a moan. His breath was tickling her neck and his hand was traveling down her stomach now. Was he trying to give her heart palpations?

Snape pushed closer to her, erasing her thoughts of all things but his closeness to her and the hardness that was pressing against her arse. "I can feel your heart beating, Miss Granger." He whispered in her ear. "Why so nervous? He drew spirals on her stomach with his finger. "I suppose we can all be _nervous_ at times. Even for those who believe themselves to be brave little Gryffindors."

Hermione could've sword her stomach turned over at his comment, making her him more than she ever had. But his voice was so mistifying, she couldn't have moved if she had tried. She was once again in a state of mind where she wasn't able to control her body or mind. "Are you implying," She breathed, savoring the feeling that his hands were creating all over her body. "That I am a ninny, Sir?" Hermione smiled in the darkness. Snape laughed; actually laughed. It was more of a bark than a laugh, but it was mirthful. Her smile grew even bigger.

He kissed her shoulder because it was the only thing he could reach when she was facing away from him. The first thing she felt was shock. But after that subsided, she relaxed. He traced nonsense shapes into her stomach with his fingers and placed feathery kissed across her shoulders and upper back. He inhaled twice because she smelled so good before he carefully turned her around to face him. He pulled Hermione as close and she could be and she placed one of her legs over his hip. This time he opened his mouth, letting his tongue slip inside hers. Hermione could do nothing but comply. The feeling of his tongue against hers was completely marvelous. She felt her body go weak and was happy to know the bed was supporting her, because otherwise she would've fallen into the darkness and passed out from all the emotions racking her body. She was completely dizzy and the kiss felt like bliss.

She was fully aware that it was her teacher who was making her so wet. It was her dreaded potions professor, in fact, the only teacher she grew up fearing. She finally opened her eyes to find him staring at her with his dark molten eyes. When he locked eyes with her, every ounce of awkwardness dropped away. Every moment in the past where he was yelling at her during class, or taking away points from her fellow Gryffindors melted into nothing. She saw a man in need and he saw a young woman that could potentially fill the gaping hole in his heart.

He pulled away from her. "Not having any regrets are you, being here with your snarky old potions professor?" Hermione had been holding her breath while he was talking, afraid that he was going to force her to leave. He looked her in the eye, a serious expression on his face. "You may leave now if you wish, Miss Granger." He said.

Without thinking or saying anything else, Hermione kissed him with every ounce of passion that her small frame could muster. Everything else dissolved around them.

They kissed for a while until Snape suddenly pushed her away. He saw the fear of rejection in her eyes. Snape's eyes suddenly clouded over dangerously as he bent down once again to her ear level. "On your back, now," He breathed in her ear. Hermione felt an absurd rush of lust at being 

told what to do. Her breath was caught in her throat and she began to get dizzy. She bit back a moan when his hands went to her hips and he flipped her on her back roughly

"Please." Hermione whimpered.

"Please _what_, Miss Granger?" Snape asked with amusement in his eyes.

"Please...just do something!" She whined and her professor's eyes sparkled dangerously. He leaned in until she could feel his minty breath on her cheek. Their lips were almost touching, and every nerve on Hermione's body was writhing in anticipation.

"I'm afraid that would be very inappropriate according to the student-teacher relations code, Miss Granger. You of all people should know the rules," He spoke against her lips, sending shivers down her spine. He looked her into the eyes, daring her to make a move. Hermione let out a frustrated whimper and grabbed onto both his arms that were holding him up above her. But instead of giving into her girlish whining he roughly grabbed both her arms and pinned them above her head. Gasping at the sudden contact of body, Hermione thrashed her hips about until he sat on her, rendering her incapable of movement except for her feet.

"You are very persistent, aren't you?" His teeth grazed her ear lobe, making her back arch unconsciously. "Ten points from Gryffindor for fighting me," He spoke softly, licking her neck "But twenty points to Gryffindor for keeping it interesting." She hissed at him when he ground himself into her.

His hand began to stroke her stomach and made his way up to her breasts, which thus far he had managed to keep away from. He left feathery touches around each one, grazing the nipples and making her arch her back again. He surprised her by grabbing them roughly and she cried out.

"Ow!" she sobbed "That hurt!"

"Then maybe you should stop being such a minx," He said, tweaking her nipples.

"But I'm not –" She started.

"Ah, ah, ah, Miss Granger, I would watch my manners if I were you. Remember what I said about respecting your superiors." He traced his fingers away from her breasts and down her stomach. He scooted back from her hips and onto her thighs. Her thumb found her clit.

Hermione could've had an orgasm there and then. Just that simple touch drove her wild and she needed more. _Now._ "Please..." She whimpered.

"Please, what, Miss Granger?" He asked, knowing what she wanted.

"Please...more!"

And with that he thrust a finger inside of her. Hermione moaned loudly and threw her head back. Soon he added a second digit. She was moaning loudly. Just as she was about to reach her climax, however, he drew out.

"Tell me, Miss Granger, has anyone ever been able to make you squirm like I do?" She gasped when she felt the tip of his hard member flick against her warm center "Have you ever wanted to fuck anyone the way you want to fuck me right now?" She dug her fingernails into his back and bucked her hips trying to get more contact with him.

"No..." She breathed out and she felt the tip enter slightly into her slick folds.

"I thought not," Snape commented back with a sly smirk on his face. His fingers were still rubbing her nub, bringing her close to her release, but always kept her anticipating more.

"Please Professor, please fuck me!" She cried out; she didn't usually speak that way, but in her arousal she couldn't focus on her usual good-girl behavior.

Snape thrust into her hard and fast and she screamed out from being stretched once more that night. Her cries of pleasure were making Snape lose his control. Her voice was so sexy when she was moaning for him He waited for a moment, letting her get used to his size and then pulled out almost all the way, only to thrust inside her once more, picking up his pace. Soon Hermione began to feel an intense pleasure build up rather than being preoccupied with feeling herself stretch to accommodate him. She felt her back arch and she met his thrusts the best she could, though to be honest it was hard to even get a grip on the bed sheets and hold on for the ride. She had wrapped her legs around his waist and pulled him into her, deeper than she thought anyone could possibly go. It was suddenly too much for her and she gripped his back, digging her nails into his skin.

"Ahhh," they both moaned together. He picked up his pace and just a few thrusts later he felt her whimper her sigh of release. Just hearing her moaning in pleasure under his grasp caused him to lose himself momentarily, forgetting that he was trying to hold on longer. He exploded inside her heaving and panting just as hard as she was, if not harder. He whispered into her ear, but she didn't catch what he was saying. He collapsed on top of her before rolling to her side to catch his breath and let her do the same.

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"Miss Granger, you never disappoint, do you?" He said chuckling softly, regaining some of his composure.

Her body was slick with sweat and she wiped the back of her hand across her forehead before speaking. "I try not to let you down, Professor. Lucky for you, you're the only one that has received my… One-hundred and ten percent, so to speak," she joined in with his chuckling.

"I should hope so," He said, draping the forgotten silky sheets over both of them once more. For a long time, neither of them spoke, and slowly their breathing and heartbeats returned to normal once again, though neither of them could sleep. They were both up thinking.

"Professor –"

"Miss Gra –" They both began at the same time, eliciting a nervous chuckle from Hermione.

"You first," Snape said, running his arm down the length of her side.

"Well, er, I was just wondering… Is this going to be a, well, you know," She stuttered, hoping he would understand.

"A one night stand?"

"Er, yes," She drawled out slowly, nervously.

"Well, first let me ask: did you enjoy yourself while in my presence?" He wouldn't let on how nervous he actually was while asking this question.

"Yes, of course I did, but I –"

"And do you wish for this to be the last time you are in an intimate position with your greasy Potion's master?" He drawled out, running his hand down her arm now.

"You're not greasy, and I –" She paused.

"Do you?" He asked again, this time finally grasping her hand in his, rubbing the back of her palm with his thumb.

"I – I--," She stuttered. The simple gesture of him holding her hand was answer enough for her, but she was so blown away that he would actually do something like that, that she couldn't help but pause and relish in the feeling.

"You're keeping me waiting, Miss Granger," He said, snuggling closer to her. She could feel his breath on her neck once again.

She smiled while she thought of the best way to word her jumbled thoughts, though he could not see it in the darkness. "I do not want this to be even close to the last time, as long as it is what you want as well," She said, glad she had thought of a semi-diplomatic answer.

"So, you want to see me again like this once more? Twice more? Fifty times more?" He asked, licking her earlobe and distracting her.

"More," she said simply, turning to kiss him sweetly, though she was still nervous that he had not commented on her answer yet.

"More than fifty times? My my, aren't we getting ahead of ourselves?" But he laughed quietly while he said it. "What about your stupid friends? What will they think if they find out?" He nibbled on her lower lip.

"They won't find out. For now. And either will anyone else, including the school or it's administrators," she paused thoughtfully. "As long as that's what you want, of course."

He remained quiet for a long time. Long enough that Hermione had snuggled up against him to go back to sleep, sure that he wasn't going to answer tonight, or ever. He curled up next to her and smiled, their fingers still intertwined. He never thought this would happen to him.

"Hermione, are you awake?" He prodded.

"Mmm?" She mumbled, half awake and half asleep.

"I'm yours as long as you will keep me," He said, and relished in her stunned silence before closing his eyes once again for some much needed sleep.

Hermione inwardly exploded with happiness. She would have to thank her friends for making her play that stupid game.

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